Halfworlds

To be honest, compared to another International TV series, this series doesn't make me want to watch the next episode. I miss the curious feeling when I watched it. However, the mind blowing ideas in the finale episode is quite nice. If you want to watch some unusual series. Then this series is for you. I want to see the next season, hopefully they show us how powerful every creature is. I don't know, they just seems to be too weak for me. Some scary effects to show the strength of each character is okay. The sexual scene is really annoying, why they are doing that too often? The fighting scene is somehow feel strange, but nice. I like the Tara Basro fighting style. Remind me of some game in the past, epic. Great job Joko Anwar.

I am Indonesian and I live in Jakarta. When I first saw the trailer I said to myself at last a good series made by Indonesian. It featured Indonesian supernatural myths and it looked different from other Indonesian made. After all, it was picked up by HBO, so it should be good, yes? No! I didn't see the first episode, but I saw the second, and it didn't take me 30 minutes to change the channel.

To me it was a big no. The story was actually promising but the execution was not. The dialog were somewhat scarce, short, and not really interconnected to one another. The acting was worse. They were not actually acting but only tried to look cool. Trying to be cool was not the same as acting.

In short, the overall look was not really different from other Indonesian horror film.

If you think this is Indonesia's TV Show wake up call, then you're wrong. This is not it! I wrote this review just so people would not hope so much from the series.

I watched most of the first season just because I hoped things will get better the next second, but it never happened, well it was sometimes "it's gonna happen", but it did not. The development was so slow, when the finale came it was like the story was still trying to start and then it was end time. Probably my cruel judgment was because Halfworlds had the same schedule as Game of Thrones so I'm unconsciously comparing this serial to one of the greatest serial ever made.

In my opinion the acting (of some of the characters) were bad. This goes to Coki, Sarah, and Pinun. Acting is not the same as being a snobbish socialite. You can't blame Ario Bayu for all the experience he has, but his acting was too theatrical. One sentence per minute will not bring us anywhere. It is the time of fast development stories. If the audience can't catch up they can re-watch. I give extra credit to Adinia Wirasti and Arifin Putra for outstanding acts.

The fighting choreography were sub-pare. They weren't bad but if you want a movie to be half mostly about fighting you should make the fighting scenes something to wait for, right?

The kissing and nudity are out of place. If you want to put nudity in art it must mean something. All the kissing and swearing were like they are telling the audience "Hey, we're Indonesians but we're kissing and swearing, ain't that cool?". No it's not cool, it's a pity, and it's ironic.

At the end, this serial just looked like a rude mess. Please comeback with a full cooked plot and casts with serious intentions.

The HBO TV series Halfworlds has a very interesting back story but suffers from bad casting, fake acting extras, bad costume and seem to do little in drawing you into the story.

In terms of the main cast they are way to good looking and polished to be believed that they are your normal everyday people stuck in a battle between good and evil. Everyone looks like they belong in a upper crust telenovela Mansion instead of the dirty streets.

All seem way to good looking and clean to fit into the dark story line. It attempts to create an Asian Underworld type of TV series but falls way short on execution.

‪#‎Disappointed‬ ‪#‎Halfworlds‬

I don't have a lot of knowledge about HBO Asia, but if this is the first TV show from Indonesia, I'm a really proud Jakartan. Although without this, I'm still a proud Jakartan for many other reasons. Anyway... Let's talk about Halfworlds.

Regardless of the pictures, it's good. It has a unique quality of Jakarta. The background story about the Demit and everything else is really interesting. I was quite fascinated when I heard the stories because from what I know, the story about these Demits are altered.

The length of the pilot is only 30 minutes, which kind of disappointing for me. I expected 15 minutes longer. But in only 30 minutes, it's packed well. A solid start, I must say.

Again, applause for Joko Anwar, my favorite director in Indonesia. Hoping the next episode would be better. I'm excited to see where the story goes, because after watching the pilot I still have no idea what's going on.