5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: Perfect live adaptation for Malaysia's caped crusader
MALAYSIA'S first original superhero Keluang Man may sound like he is a local version of Batman, but the only similarity they seem to have is that they are both caped crusaders.
For starters, Batman became a masked vigilante by night, fighting crime in Gotham City, because criminals made him an orphan.
Keluang Man, however, did not know who his parents were as he was rescued from a child-trafficking syndicate and raised by a skilled silat master named Ahmad.
And while Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne inherited his rich parents' vast fortune and used it to come up with state-of-the-art crime-fighting devices, Keluang Man's alter ego Borhan lives a miserable life in the mental hospital of his crime-infested city Tumpoi, a thinly veiled reference to Tampoi in Johor Baru.
An iconic superhero created by the late Kamn Ismail in the 1990s, Keluang Man was a hugely popular animated series during that decade and also had his own comics.
And it has taken Anwari, the brilliant visionary behind the 'Polis Evo' film trilogy to script and direct it for the big screen.
Keluang Man's movie stays 100 per cent true to the cartoon and depicts our hero as a man full of cheeky humour.
As in the cartoon, 'Keluang Man The Movie' follows Borhan (Nas Muammar Zar alias Nas-T of 'Kami The Movie', 'Air Force The Movie' and 'Tanda Putera' fame), a psychiatric patient who regularly escapes his asylum.
But when his past returns to haunt him, the man with dissociative schizophrenia embarks on a vengeful path, unaware that this journey will transform him into Keluang Man.
Nas, an underrated actor who has been active since the 2000s, is brilliant as Borhan/Keluang Man, for he looks like his animated character and imitates his mannerisms meticulously.
Like his animated character, Nas' Borhan breaks the fourth wall, expounds his thoughts in bubbles, takes viewers into his mind and listens to strange voices in his head.
Nas' knowledge of self-defence, which helped him greatly in 'Air Force' and 'Kami', also comes in handy for his Keluang Man role, as our hero is more physical than Batman, having learnt silat from Ahmad (Datuk Rosyam Nor).
And as a patient, Nas infuses Borhan with an awkwardness that allows him to blend in nicely with his fellow inmates.
As for Rosyam, the character of father figure Ahmad is tailor-made for him, as Ahmad is a stern yet compassionate mentor who always has Borhan's back.
Datuk Remy Ishak also has his character Shamsir tailor-made for him.
If Batman had The Joker as his formidable foe, Shamsir is Keluang Man's answer to the clown prince of crime, even if they do not resemble each other.
Shamsir is destructive, and plants explosives all over Tumpoi, just as Jack Napier/The Joker does in Gotham City.
However, Shamsir is ruggedly handsome and was once Borhan's best friend.
No Keluang Man adventure is complete without Inspector Sahab Singh and his younger sister Dr Malini, and first-timers Anwaar and Shweta are perfectly cast.
While Sahab is somewhat like Spider-Man's Jonah Jameson, who at first detests him, he gradually warms up to Keluang Man and begins to play the role of Commissioner Gordon.
Dr Malini is the only character who cares for Borhan and always motivates him to believe that he is not crazy but unwell.
As for the supporting characters, Amelia Henderson is great as Kathy, the fearless television reporter who becomes Keluang Man's ally along the lines of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' April O'Neill.
The most interesting cameos are provided by Naim Daniel, a young fan who might become Borhan's sidekick Tiong Man, and Senario's Wahid Mohamad and Azlee Jaafar as two "nice" inmates.
A love letter to the generation that grew up in the 1990s, 'Keluang Man' has everything for viewers.
Filmed in the Klang Valley, Kinta Valley, Tanjung Malim and Kluang with superb cinematography, this movie is perfect.
Fans can expect many famous cameos from Malaysian movie history plus throwback hits from the 2000s.
NOW SHOWING
KELUANG MAN
DIRECTOR Anwari Ashraf
STARRING Nas Muammar Zar, Datuk Remy Ishak, Datuk Rosyam Nor, Shweta Sekhon, Anwaar Beg Moghal, Halim Othman, Amelia Henderson, Sham Sunder, Dennis Yin, Naim Daniel, Mierul Aiman, Nadhir Nasar, Daniella Sya, Wahid Mohamad, Azlee Jaafar, Delimawati, A Galak
