Embrace your creed

It's an honor to start this year's movie reviews with a local film; especially with this one.  

While Merong Mahawangsa and Cicakman are good films because they're a leap forward for Malaysian films in terms of special effects, this one is in terms of writing.   

Yes, it is the awesome series adapted film, Juvana!

First of, I would like to highlight that I'm a fan of Crime Dramas and it will have a huge effect in this review.  Crime films, the good ones, highlights the hardships of criminals.  It doesn't highlights the explosive actions.  I'm not fond of those straight forward action flicks.  

I would like compare this film with another local Crime film that has been a sensation in this country, which is KL Gangsters, in order to emphasize my point.  I hate KL Gangsters.  The actions didn't impress me nor did the script.  I don't think criminals from the bad side of neighborhood would have any knowledge of martial arts, specifically Muay Thai.  At least, not all of them! The dialogue--oh my god, the dialogue! It was just so bad and disgusting! "Lu jangan kencing sama wa!" (You don't pee on me) Seriously?! I understand that it was a portrayal of what Malaysians gangsters really sound like but with all honesty, put some vocabulary and intelligence in it for god's sake.  Crime Dramas often highlight smart men with greed or just bad history not idiots with money! (You can see now how much the genre effects the review) Lastly, it is very stereotypical.  The 'gangsters' are smoking almost all the freaking time!

So, with that being said.  I would gladly state that Juvana is nothing like that.  It is a pleasure to finally watch a good local film in a long while.  It avoids the painful habit of local writers playing it safe by writing cliche' plots.  This film had it's own ambition of selling itself for the sake of the story and not money.  Even films like Merong and Cicakman still dare not to try something new and bold with the script; as if the phrase "We're playing it safe with the script" is pasted on the freaking poster.

For the acting, I can't complain anything.  They did a splendid job.  It's funny how Sharnaaz is praised for his performance as Lan Todak; the antagonist of the story.  Don't get me wrong, he did a good job but, to me, the character was too forced.  This is not something you'd point your finger to the actors.  No, this is the writer's responsibility.  Again, good Crime Drama films center real men with real problem; having a psychopath with not much decent background story ruins the realism in the genre.  Lan Todak, although gruesome, doesn't fit much if you're trying to make a good crime drama.  But hey, this genre isn't exactly a huge hit with the general audience and I understand if they're trying to reach to everyone as an audience.  And personally, I am not digging Adlin Aman Ramlie being ignored for his performance! Dude, I was excited when I heard he was in this flick! He's a good actor and plus, I just knew he'd be perfect for this role.  Him being the disciplinary guy (I don't know the name of the occupation) was just bad ass.  With his face, I just knew he's going to be a huge pain for shouting at the juvenile delinquents.  But instead he was a tough lover; teaches the delinquents with some hard labor which was still good.

Another aspect of the film I'd like to highlight is the action.  Sometimes, it's not the choreographed action but a simple trigger that could make a memorable scene.  That's one of the best traits of Crime Dramas.  In this film, it is choreographed in a way that's not much of a martial arts flick.  It still relied on typical fight scenes.  It didn't did it's best to make that one awesome and shocking murder scene.  It did had one scene but it wasn't strong enough.

Alhamdulillah, I finally get to see this film.  It's hard to convince my pals to watch this.  I ended up watching The Last Stand and Hansel and Gretel which aren't very good.  Juvana may not be as good as Bunohan (A film that is really good) but it's definitely a good start for 2013's local film scene. Before I give my rating, here's the guidelines with the numbers: 

     1/5: Pathetic/ Wasting time/ Disrespectful or any other insults you could think of  :)