28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: Futuristic adventures of a brave, 'unloved' boy hero
MALAYSIA'S animated superkid Ejen Ali is back for another explosive science-fiction adventure on the silver screen.
And while he is still 12 years old, he now looks a little stronger and taller, thanks to the harsh training that he undergoes in order to be a superspy.
Everyone's favourite battle-hardened boy wonder of the future has embraced espionage technology that is more advanced and faces a most formidable foe whose actual form he is not sure of.
Welcome to 'Ejen Ali The Movie 2' (EATM2), which once again sees the "unloved" youngster take on a phantom menace by the name of Ciro.
As compared with 'Ejen Ali The Movie' in 2019, this sequel has more explosive action and a deeper, more immersive narrative experience.
Enhanced physical appearances too, as viewers get to see Ali's more muscular frame and sharper face, as well as the lines on the faces of the older characters.
Once again set in the futuristic city of Cyberaya, EATM2 sees Ali become the pilot for a high-stakes mission under Satria, an elite programme powered by an AI-assisted mecha suit.
The mission takes a darker turn when the renegade Ejen Rizwan enlists Ali's help to uncover the true mastermind behind escalating threats in Cyberaya.
Meanwhile, the mysterious hacker Neonimus resurfaces, driven by a personal vendetta against Ali.
As Neonimus weaves a dangerous web of deception, every choice Ali makes becomes critical, determining not only his fate but the future of the city.
Ali's Satria Project is aimed at producing a new generation of Mata agents who are able to combine the skills of all four Mata Cores, namely Techno, Neuro, Inviso and Kombat.
Satria is a dynamic armoured suit equipped with combat pattern data from Mata's greatest agents and can be modified using ferrofluid technology to form special weapons according to mission needs.
Ali's best friend Ejen Alicia has now been given a new role as the Iris user.
Both of them are made to team up once again to confront Neonimus, who reveals that he is working for the insidious and mysterious Ciro, the deadliest enemy of Cyberaya to date.
As for Rizwan, he is now teaming up with one-time baddies Dos and Trez to fight Mata's leadership for the sake of old grudges.
Meanwhile, Mata's leadership is also facing a crisis, as the head of Cyberaya Datuk Othman has brought in Ejen Amir and Ejen Elle to work with the more senior Ejen Dayang and Ejen Ganz, and they don't see eye to eye.
This opens up the opportunity for Ciro to penetrate Mata.
Viewers might need to read up a little about Ejen Ali's characters and his animated TV series which has been on the small screen for almost a decade now to follow this movie effectively.
This is because, the appearance of one-time regular Mata agents such as Rizwan and General Rama as renegades might not make sense unless one is aware of the developments that took place in the series' now-concluded Season 3.
Nevertheless, if one has not been following the series, EATM2 can still be enjoyed on its own as its computer-generated special effects are world class.
This is evident in the design of Iris and especially Satria, and when Ali and Alicia enter Satria to battle Ciro, the programme readily transforms them into upgraded versions of themselves.
A lot of this echoes Disney's iconic science-fiction adventure in a computer, 'Tron', and its less-known sequel 'Tron Legacy', but EATM2's computer graphics are actually more crisper and clearer.
While EATM2's scientific magic is a marvel to look at, its storytelling is loaded with emotions and one can really feel what the boy hero feels.
Yes, our hero is brave, strong, fast and competent, but his world seems to be endlessly sad and threatened by unfortunate events.
For a 12-year-old Ali lives a pretty harsh life, often barked at by his superiors with the notable exception of the motherly Ejen Dayang.
He may have buddies like Alicia, Viktor and Sasi who share his love of video games, but in school he is often tormented by a fearsome teacher named Cikgu Munah.
Nevertheless, viewers do find her rather cute and, in one scene, she even helps Ali batle evil Ciro!
Perhaps, Ali's creators want to show kids that working life can be pretty cruel and unforgiving, and all of the "bashings" we get turn ordinary men into supermen.
The friendship between Ali and Alicia, two cutesy but formidable teen agents, is interesting and comparable with that of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger in JK Rowling's famous novel series.
Their dynamic combination as team mates gradually evolved from competitive frenemies into something more meaningful.
As for the high-level politicking in Mata, it does reflect the real world too.
As director Usamah once said, a large organisation like Mata cannot have everyone on the same page, and different groups within the organisation are bound to have different agendas.
All this helps make Ali's world colourful and believable, thatwhich was exactly what Hogwarts was in the Harry Potter novels.
Ejen Ali may look like a children's animated adventure on the surface, but its stories contain lots of deep and "adult" plots.
NOW SHOWING
EJEN ALI THE MOVIE 2
DIRECTOR Usamah Zaid Yasin
