Halfworlds

I knew for the first time about the series from social media then from the HBO advertise. I said to my self, "Wow an Indonesian series, directed by Indonesian top director, broadcast by HBO. Its going to be awesome!". Until I actually watched the first episode. There were so many "wait what?", "why?", "who are you" moments. The flow of the story was confusing, the transitions from one scene to another was odd. There were many flashing scenes jumping from one situation to another situation then back to the previous situation then jump again and so on. The acting were below HBO series bar. The episode was also ended awkwardly leaving me confused. I watched the second and the third eps and the conditions above still occurs. I am hoping so much there will be so much improvements and this series could have second season. I am very proud with this series and the director, cast and crews. Come on Joko Anwar!

If you think this is Indonesia's TV Show wake up call, then you're wrong. This is not it! I wrote this review just so people would not hope so much from the series.

I watched most of the first season just because I hoped things will get better the next second, but it never happened, well it was sometimes "it's gonna happen", but it did not. The development was so slow, when the finale came it was like the story was still trying to start and then it was end time. Probably my cruel judgment was because Halfworlds had the same schedule as Game of Thrones so I'm unconsciously comparing this serial to one of the greatest serial ever made.

In my opinion the acting (of some of the characters) were bad. This goes to Coki, Sarah, and Pinun. Acting is not the same as being a snobbish socialite. You can't blame Ario Bayu for all the experience he has, but his acting was too theatrical. One sentence per minute will not bring us anywhere. It is the time of fast development stories. If the audience can't catch up they can re-watch. I give extra credit to Adinia Wirasti and Arifin Putra for outstanding acts.

The fighting choreography were sub-pare. They weren't bad but if you want a movie to be half mostly about fighting you should make the fighting scenes something to wait for, right?

The kissing and nudity are out of place. If you want to put nudity in art it must mean something. All the kissing and swearing were like they are telling the audience "Hey, we're Indonesians but we're kissing and swearing, ain't that cool?". No it's not cool, it's a pity, and it's ironic.

At the end, this serial just looked like a rude mess. Please comeback with a full cooked plot and casts with serious intentions.

The HBO TV series Halfworlds has a very interesting back story but suffers from bad casting, fake acting extras, bad costume and seem to do little in drawing you into the story.

In terms of the main cast they are way to good looking and polished to be believed that they are your normal everyday people stuck in a battle between good and evil. Everyone looks like they belong in a upper crust telenovela Mansion instead of the dirty streets.

All seem way to good looking and clean to fit into the dark story line. It attempts to create an Asian Underworld type of TV series but falls way short on execution.

‪#‎Disappointed‬ ‪#‎Halfworlds‬

Really liked the story and the concept. Watched the entire first season but spent the entire time trying to figure out if the main character was a different person because her hair went from bangs to no bangs. I found this confusing cause when her hair is up she looks completely different. Story made no sense and how do these people have super powers but fight like average joes? There was a lot of of random people with no explanation and the story would randomly throw stuff in and then completely abandon the plot or explain what was going on. Overall, I enjoyed it but remained confused. I tired to watch the second season but it got way to confusing and I liked the first season charters more.

I am Indonesian and I live in Jakarta. When I first saw the trailer I said to myself at last a good series made by Indonesian. It featured Indonesian supernatural myths and it looked different from other Indonesian made. After all, it was picked up by HBO, so it should be good, yes? No! I didn't see the first episode, but I saw the second, and it didn't take me 30 minutes to change the channel.

To me it was a big no. The story was actually promising but the execution was not. The dialog were somewhat scarce, short, and not really interconnected to one another. The acting was worse. They were not actually acting but only tried to look cool. Trying to be cool was not the same as acting.

In short, the overall look was not really different from other Indonesian horror film.