KL GANGSTER

• Language: Malay
• Running Time: 81 mins
• Genre: Action
• Director: Syamsul Yusof
• Cast: Syamsul Yusof, Ridzuan Hashim, Aaron Aziz

OVERVIEW

“KL Gangster” tells the tale of two brothers who get involved in the world of gangsterism. The older brother Malek (Aaron Aziz) was imprisoned for five years after being betrayed by his own gang which was started by Shark (Syamsul), the step brother of the most influential gangster in Kuala Lumpur, King (Ridzuan Hashim). Malek who leads a normal life after being released, is pulled back into the world he left behind after all those years. Especially since his younger brother Jai (Adyputra) is influenced by the gangsters and decides to work for Shark bringing everything down in chaos.*

 

SCREENCAPS

    

 

 

TRAILER

 

MY REVIEW

QUICK REVIEW

STORY: A

PRESENTATION: C+

OVERALL: B

 

DETAILED REVIEW

STORY: Story-wise, the movie is strong. Both it’s protagonist and antagonist (the brothers, not Shark) aren’t there simply because they were told to be there. They are there because they were dragged there by a common past. I’d say it’s the strongest point of the movie and I’d applause Syamsul Yusof for coming down with a strong story. Every casts in the movie has their motives, Shark wants more power and to be in control, King wants to keep the balance of power amongst the gangsters in KL etc. that drives them to do what they do in the movie. They don’t just simply do because they were told to do them. I find that part impressive for a Malaysian movie.

 

PRESENTATION: Presentation-wise was where the film stumbled. Sure, the action is good but it’s more the camera action and not the actor doing the action that was good. Many of the action scene shots used the standard moving camera shots to give that “a lot of thing happens” feel to it. You can spot the awkwardness of how the actors move every time the camera stopped moving. Editing was also a bit overdone that it hurts the flow of the movie. You get one scene of a group of people smack talking to each other and followed by a scene of one of the character getting scold at which was really awkward to see. If felt like the movie should have been longer but was cut short to fit the one and a half hour time constraint, which is sad considering the strong story it has. While the choreography in the the movie is good, you can still see the awkwardness in the actor’s movements unlike the fluidity of those you’d see from Thailand  or Hong Kong action films.

 

OVERALL: Overall, I’d say KL Gangster is just an okay film. It has a strong story but was ultimately a letdown due to the overly done editing and awkward action scenes. Would I recommend it to others? Only if they are an avid fan of Malaysian movies.

 

 

 

Arief_Zainal