Mat Kilau

All the weaknesses have been mentioned here by other reviews. Screenwriting, jump cuts, camera works etc etc.

My main complaint is how SY ended his film. It just end abruptly, like TOO abrupt. I'm all for film that ended on cliffhanger but there's literally certain style and technique to leave an impact to the viewer not just fade to black just after nothing remarkable happened before that. When the credits kicks in I'm just like "That's it?". Poor way to end a film that supposed to be an historical epic.

Don't get me wrong. I love the spirit and I know what kind of message that SY has been trying to deliver. But man... it is badly made.

1. Script

• One guy throw a line and not even a 0.01s, another guy throws his line almost cutting the first line. No momentum, no space to feel anything. Give them some time. You're not rushing. Though the pronunciations are clear, I already forgot the first guy's line 3 seconds ago.

2. Action Scenes.

• Love the superb choreography. But the camera work? It's not helping. Yes, we can see them punching and yes, we can see them flying but does the camera work helps? Oh I kid you not, it does not work. The intention of shaky cameras is to make the audience feel like you're there in a fight. Not in a 4x4 back seat heading towards Sabah rural school.

3. Editing Sequence.

• Jump cuts, here and there. Cutting the screen time for the sake of intensity? This is no KL Gangster.

4. Background Music.

• Oh my God, loud here and there. Over 95% of the film are filled with soundtracks. This is a Malay epic film and how come there's no Malay-feel soundtracks? Rembat Hollywood's soundtrack is it? At least go full silence on 'supposedly intense' fight scene. Make people feel engaged to the fight.

5. Ending.

• Believe there are 5 stages in storytelling structures, no? Bla bla bla, silat this and that, Adi Putra gave his speech after a fight and it ends. That's it? Even iklans by agency have an ending, man.

Overall, I'd say this is a good try la. Take this comment as a feedback into account and consider.

The storyline needs to be improved again, what I see in this movie is that there is no continuity from scene to scene, it's like there is nothing to do between the scenes. Secondly, the main hero character, Mat Kilau, has no backstory and character development and that needs to be improved. Third, the use of the Malay language needs to be further improved and the script needs to be further improved. Finally, the camera movement needs to be improved again and what I saw in this movie, the camera movement is a bit chaotic, and shaky.

What i like from this movie is Cinematography and action sequence also THIS MOVIE IS GOOD BUT IT CAN BE BETTER. THANK YOU.

The storyline is very straightforward and thin, without much depth. It is about the exploitation of British colonisers, and how the people stand up to fight for their land.

The pacing is weak. It moves too fast from one scene to another (jumping scenes), making the story hard to breathe or digest at times.

There are plenty of action scenes. BUT they are mostly "repetitive", e.g. Fighting with the soldiers and the same "villain" again and again, making the actions flat. Perhaps a real super-villain shall be saved for the very END, so that audiences could be impressed by the REAL FIGHT! However, it's just made fights for the sake of fighting!

Besides, the camera movement is just too shaky that I give up on the action scenes, or rather feel uncomfy towards the action scenes (headache and dizzy). It's alright to have "shaky camera" technique at times, like some Hollywood movies, BUT NOT overdone throughout the entire movie from the beginning to the end.

The character development is seriously weak. There is NOTHING about Mat Kilau, other than he is a leader and good in silat. Also, we could hardly understand much about the characters of the FIVE 'brother fighters'. The emotional and sentimental value is just NOT there enough to touch anyone. As such, I could hardly feel anything, even though TWO of them died or anyone died in the movie.

There is a scene whereby the villagers (at last) came to defend the land and fight against the British. I supposed the director wanted to make an "Avengers Assemble" kind of goose-bump scene, BUT it failed badly. And perhaps due to budget constraints, everything just ended abruptly.

It leaves room for improvement in many aspects, as said above. Oh ya, it's kind of violent with slaughtering and bloody scenes, so pls beware if you were to bring children to the movie.

This movie is shallow, peppered with preachy scripts and cliches.

It needs a better writer... Character building is almost non-existent. The protagonist appeared out of nowhere, was thrown into a leadership role and started preaching about nationalism and religion. This is followed by a cliche drama where another character is envious of the chosen leader.

The preaching doesn't end there. It kept reminding you that the British were evil and tried to convince the viewers how important nationalism & religion were to them. This was done over and over again

This makes the protagonist one dimensional and they wasted such a good talent on this. Some of the minor characters have better development than the protagonist.

It needs breathing room... Some of the scenes jump around too fast, it seems as though they were rushing it in the editing room. Perhaps to include more preaching into the scenes?

Need some realism.... The costumes are inaccurate. Modern clothing and clothing items were used and its so obvious, it will throw historians & anthropologist into a fit.

The British soldiers are filled with entirely 'Punjabis'. Obviously, this wasn't the case in reality.

To create epic fight scenes, they have Yayan Ruhian. But it seems they wrote his character as an after thought.

Conclusion... If you don't care about good storytelling, character development, screenplay and accuracy, you will most likely like this movie.

If you appreciate good filmmaking and who goes to film festivals, you will want to skip this.