JUNE 14 — While we’re now knee deep into the Hollywood summer movie season, with plenty of heavyweight Hollywood titles duking it out in Malaysian cinemas right now like the newly-opened Ballerina, How To Train Your Dragon and Karate Kid: Legends, who’d have thought that we’d get to witness the Malaysian version of blockbuster battles as well in the last few weeks when both Ejen Ali The Movie 2: Misi Satria and Keluang Man opened within a week of each other to compete for the hearts and wallets of fellow Malaysians?
Box-office wise, I think it’s pretty clear that Ejen Ali 2 is the winner here, banking RM50.7 million after 18 days, and with nothing yet officially announced in terms of box-office for Keluang Man after almost two weeks, it’s probably not making as much, otherwise the numbers would’ve been officially announced ASAP to drum up more interest for people to go and see it in cinemas.
Still, numbers aren’t everything when it comes to movies. Quality, approachability and enjoyment are also very important factors in determining both the critical and commercial success of a mainstream film, so let’s dive in and see who’s the winner in this regard as well, shall we?
Ejen Ali The Movie 2: Misi Satria
If I had kids, I’d probably have watched every single season of Ejen Ali (there are three of them so far, if I’m not mistaken), and would have been in possession of an even deeper understanding of the lore and characters involved in this hugely successful animated franchise from local studio WAU Animation.
I walked into the first Ejen Ali The Movie without having watched a single episode of the series and was still mightily impressed and cried buckets (like I sometimes do watching Pixar movies) a few years back.
So, when Ejen Ali The Movie 2: Misi Satria was finally announced, of course I was more than excited to check it out and see if the new movie would be as impressive as the first one.
Chronologically taking place after the events of the first movie and Season 3 of the series (which I haven’t watched), this movie finds Ali no longer wielding the IRIS suit, which is now being used by Alicia (a new development courtesy of Season 3 of the series) and is now becoming the pilot of SATRIA, a new experimental armoured suit that uses AI to enhance both physical and mental capabilities.
The villain this time around is a hacker named Neonimus, who at first appears to be the main threat to Cyberaya but will later be revealed to be a mere pawn in what is a larger plot being planned by unknown forces.
The film’s B story involves former agent Rizwan, who independently tries to track down and uncover who the puppet master is behind these nefarious schemes.
Packed to the brim with some visually impressive action sequences, my experience of watching Ejen Ali The Movie 2: Misi Satria is akin to what I felt whilst watching Ne Zha 2, kinetic and visually exciting experiences that somehow lacked that bit of heart that made the first movie such a magical experience in the first place.
The kids will love this one, but the adults would probably have wished for a stronger emotional core to keep them interested, like the best of Pixar does and has done for us many times before.
Keluang Man
As a 90s kid, local cartoon series like Keluang Man and Usop Sontorian were staples of my TV diet back then.
I won’t call myself a hardcore fan or anything like that, but if I happen to be in front of the TV when these shows come on, you can bet that I’d sit down and watch them from beginning to end.
There was something very Malaysian about both series’ sensitivities and sense of humour.
Of course that being a very long time ago, I’ll also have to admit that I remember very, very little about the details in both series.
Naturally, when a “live” action Keluang Man movie was announced, the 90s kid in me couldn’t help but get quite excited to see how that would turn out.
And when the minds behind this new adaptation turned out to be quite a few of the same people behind the hit series Project High Council and some of the Polis Evo movies, I was even more excited.
Starring Nas-T as Borhan, a patient at a mental hospital in Tampoi who also moonlights as the masked crime fighter Keluang Man, director Anwari Ashraf has crafted a superhero origin story that’s part action movie, part irreverent comedy, and full of 90s pop culture references and needle drop moments that any 90s kid would be delighted to watch.
However, that delightful advantage is also potentially a double-edged sword as people who are not 90s kids will very probably not be able to catch all these little jokes and references, and be baffled as to why these uncles and aunties are laughing so hard at this joke that they do not understand at all.
As a 90s kid, yes, I had a grand old time watching this movie, so kudos to Anwari and the whole team for coming up with such a lovable update of a much-cherished time capsule, but with most of the 90s kids already being dragged by their kids (and maybe even grandkids) to watch Ejen Ali The Movie 2: Misi Satria in the cinema, I do fear for the box-office prospects of Keluang Man.
