Malbatt: Misi Bakara

I love this movie so much! Great acting, superb directorship, intense, inspiring, heart-touching, and diligent! Kudos to all the team involved in making this movie. I give the highest rating and this is the best Malaysian movie I've ever watched. I hope that this becomes internationally recognised!

I'm always hopeful that Malaysia to keep producing this level of quality of films and keep developing and evolving. The script is concise and precise, and the message is conveyed. I'm not an expert in cinematography and videography, but the sound effect is so real and effective. Congrats and proud!

First of all, Happy Independent Day to my beloved country Malaysia and thank you so much to all RAMD and 19th Battalion to sacrifice your life for this dangerous mission back in 1993.

Honestly, how actors portrayed them almost the same as real one especially Lans Koperal Ramlee (Shaheizy Sam) and Abdalle (Musa Aden, he's my MVP for this film) for their chemistry and I was emotional when Abdalle's family scene right before morning of 06:00C.

Other than that, Dafi was quite a good actor and chemistry with Shaheizy Sam and Nafiez Zaidi (Pok Nik @ Lans Koperal Nik Zainal) was better than expected. I don't get it why he got hated only for he as a son of Prime Minister + he also human too.

The storyline was straightforward, not catching some strays or drama and easy to understand (also I love some details of it). I love some comedy part especially Leftnan Johan (Syazwan Zulkiply) and Alor Gajah people will be very proud for this haha.

Now to the bad thing, CGI. I feel bad that CGI and explosion (especially RPG) let down this film. If their is more budget and time, I'm 100% sure this film will be top there as one of the greatest Malaysian movies ever. Swear words do even exists back then? I don't know.

Consider the plot, storyline and actors are good, I will give the film 9.5/10 but because of IMDb don't have that .5 at back, I give 10 for this.

First of all, I'm no fans of Malaysian movies. I can count on one hand the Malaysian movies that I watched on the big screen. But this MALBATT: Misi Bakara, I should give credits where credit dues.

I've been waiting for this movie since Black Hawk Down released in year 2000. When I heard they making this MALBATT movie, I'm so excited and been waiting since to watch it in cinema. For me, Black Hawk Down is just half of the story of the Battle of Mogadishu. It is being told from the point of view of the American Forces. What is their mission, what happened during the mission and how they managed to get out. Not much being focused on the rescuers because it is not their focus. Now, Malaysia has done justice to MALBATT by telling the other half of the battle. How the rescue starts and how the rescue ends.

On the story itself, the budget of RM20mil is very small for a war movie. War movies need lots of casts and extras, lots of equipments, lots of weapons, lots of vehicles. Furthermore, the war is located in foreign country. There is no location in Malaysia can be used for war scenes, thus the logistic cost is also big. All being said, with the budget given, Adrian Teh and the team has doing very well indeed.

About the story line, it is the most unviolent war movies I ever watched. Even 2 years old kid can watched it with their parents and I saw lots of families came to watch the movies bringing their toddlers. Don't worry about exploded heads, chopped hands, torn legs etc. I'm not expecting that either. Out of 130 mins, I think more than 100 mins is about shooting scenes.

Lastly, the tributes to the real heroes, and the only fallen one Kpl Aznan Awang is really touching me.

My conclusion, maybe this movie is not as good as other war movies out there, but it is Made in Malaysia and it is based on true stories, superb acting, well directed with a tinge of comedy and without discrediting any of the American Special Forces. It is just what it is out there. Go watch it guys and be proud of our MALBATT.

The storyline is based on a true story of the Malaysian Peacekeeping Battalion (MALBATT) rescuing the American soldiers in Somalia, way back in 1993. So, the plot focuses on the mission of saving the soldiers after the black hawk down.

The pace is good! It starts fast with a thrilling rescue mission, and follows with another more challenging mission, having gun fights from the beginning to the end.

Basically, the action is mainly focused on the gun fights and attacks from the Somali terrorists. About 60% of the time, our MALBATT crews are stranded in the APC (Armoured Personnel Carriers); 10% talk and shout over the communication device; and 30% is fighting on the ground with the Somalia terrorists.

As the entire movie takes place in a very confined location, e.g. Narrow pathways and alleys, with non-stop and repetitive gun shots + RPG attacks, you will start getting visually exhausted. There is NO big attack that enhances your visual excitement throughout the movie, making it flat after a while.

Besides, it maybe better if the movie could explain the political situation in Somalia; otherwise, audiences could hardly understand what had happened in Somalia, and what the Americans had done to them, making them so against the Americans or UN troops.

The CGI is quite poor in a few parts. This is particularly obvious, for instance, explosions on the APC, in the UN camp, and the ending part. They are so uncomfortably faked that it spoils the movie quite a bit.

In terms of the cast, basically most actors are performing well, especially Shaheizy Sam, who is outstanding. To sooth the over-masculine effect, the director appears to intentionally insert a female role in the movie. Somehow, it is rather extra, and it adds no value to the movie at all!

For a local production, with all the great effort and investment in the scenes, APC, tanks, and so on, I gave 7.0/ 10.0. It is more of a movie that pays great respect and salutes to the great Malaysian armed forces for doing an excellent job! Without watching it, I had NO IDEA that Malaysia was involved in the rescue mission after Black Hawk down. Of all the three local armed forces movie productions - PASKAL, AIR FORCE and MABALL, I still love PASKAL the BEST!!!!

Just as I was able to watch the premiere of the movie, I think the scripts is built in a superb way, and the acting is great overall. There were some parts that confuses me such as weapons mechanics and the fact that there is repetitive shooting scenes, but I think they are alright and the VFX is also great considering the fact that this movie local made and I haven't seen much movies going this far with great assets and props usage.

I would give it an 8, but the storytelling embedded is truly meaningful and tells a lot about what actually happens there. Personally, I think it's an outstanding movie that could do better. But it would definitely deserve a 9 from me. I would recommend it.