Paskal: The Movie

Apparently if one is Malay, this movie is a 10. Otherwise it plays out like a 1970 TV movie. At the bowie knife fight I gave up. I cannot recommend if you are used to higher quality fare, it is clear that team Malay voted this way up... yet this is substandard otherwise.

It's actually really good compared to other local movies that usually runs among gangsterism and dumb comedies. Malaysians are their own worst critic unfortunately. It's actually a huge quality jump from the normal flicks we have. Yes, it felt like an old HK police movie, and that my friend, is already better than anything so far. keep it up.

Putting aside the main actors and their ability to act; this unique gem of a Malaysian movie stands out as one of the best to break the generic genres plaging Malaysia cinema.

The strength of this movie lies squarely on their faithful interpretation of military tactics and deployment. Which was beautifully done.

It started strong showing a glimpse of how PASKAL operates and its internal culture. However, I suppose it may be their undoing to introduce personal vendettas making it look like an 80's B rate action movie that would make Jan Micheal Vincent blush. That is the weak link in this movie and killed off a great momentum.

The basic scheme, though inspired by actual events, reminds me an American action feature from 2003 titled SWAT, where an ex cop belonging to the police elite force, decided to get thru the boundary between good and bad. This Malaysian film can be seen as a kind of propaganda, docu fiction stuff about the Malaysian special forces. Not bad at all, a pretty good time waster. But that's not CAPTAIN PHILIPS either. The final scènes are a bit too cheesy for me; too much predictable. You can easily live without it.

It has a lot to offer, but the roller coaster ride between heavy rough action to mediocre family atmosphere makes the mind dizzy and your body screams for more to maintain the 10 stars you have on hand in the start of every movie.

the cast are too tough and rough according to my perfect military action hero, and the somalian pirates armed like a battle ship, flies up and around and shoots like duracel-rabbits on khat or some other steroids. the music though nourish the excitement , and i realized that i could close my eyes waiting for the big drums entering the scenes of action and suspence and thereafter close the till next round of hefty rythms starts again.

by all means, do watch the movie , its good considering being made on a 2.5 mill $ budget.