I was one of those people queuing up excitedly during Merdeka, hoping to enjoy the most expensive malaysian movie. Nonetheless, all the publicity in the newspapers, the huge banners along the roads, and a glimpse of the opening rehearsal in KLCC didn't amount to a good turnout. This movie, to some extent, failed to satisfy my needs as a viewer.
I have to admit that the settings for this movie is excellent and the costumes, though less extravagant in Majapahit terms, is very much compensated in the Malaccan palace. The yellow colour of the court is just marvelous. It stays true to the royalty of Malay courts at that time and the rich colour sort of signifies Malacca as the powerful Malay state. Gusti Puteri should have more accessories on her to signify her status as a princess. And perhaps Hang Tuah should have a more masculine colour on him like what the Bendahara is wearing.
Nevertheless, the movie is too long and viewers are put off by the lethargic movement of Gusti Putri. What I meant is that there is a difference between being graceful and slow. Being graceful doesn't mean you have to do everything in slow motion. Also, if some scenes are deleted it won't affect the storyline of the movie I think. Like the scene where Hang Tuah talked about Tuk Mudim or when Sabri Yunus joked about giving 'penampar Arab'. In the latter, the joke lost its purpose when told more than twice.
Gusti Putri did manage to show the theme of this movie; 'Cinta Agung', and she showed this in her willingness to sacrifice everything for Hang Tuah-by 'leaving her people behind' as Gusti Adipati suggested in their telepathic scene. Nevertheless, when Gusti Puteri is left alone with Hang Tuah, their scene is filled with (more) words when actions are more appropriate for two people madly in love. This movie can be a good portrayal of a great love story if only the characters aren't lacking vigour in portraying themselves as great lovers.
And the beginning of the movie, when Gusti Puteri is in the maze, which to me signifies confusion, is contradictory. How can Gusti Puteri be confused when she is very certain that she wants Hang Tuah and is willing to go to him? I also fell asleep in the middle of the movie when Hang Tuah was battling with Gusti Adipati. This should be one of the highlights in this movie but by this scene, I was already bored to death with the irrelevant scenes.
In a nutshell, this movie is too long, too wordy and some scenes are irrelevant to the title 'Puteri Gunung Ledang'.
