Last Saturday, my parents and I get to watch this Malaysian movie, "Mantera". I must admit, I rarely watch Malaysian movies these days. In general, Malaysian movies don't match-up to Hollywood standards yet. Trying to film an action movie alone is quite expensive, so a lot of Malaysian movies are stuck to these three genres: comedy, horror and drama. Mantera is one of those extremely rare moments when Malaysia actually makes a sci-fi movie for a change, and considering that I like sci-fi, I know I don't want to pass this opportunity.

If you are curious, the trailer can be watched here: [link]

We sat in the theater, and noticed that very few people sit to watch this movie. The theater didn't even barely reach half the seats taken! I don't blame them. Either the movie is barely being advertised at all, or Malaysians aren't that confident that this movie can be a great hit. The Malaysian film industry is suffering from producing flops after flops nowadays that it's a serious problem. If the Malaysian film industry can have any potential for improvements at all, I really hope that this movie is it.

The film opens up, and the first thing my parents noticed is that the screen's curtains open up to reveal a wider 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Malaysian movies have generally almost always been filmed in 1.85:1 (save for a few rare occasions such as Puteri Gunung Ledang and Ombak Rindu, which were filmed in 2.35:1), so seeing a Malaysian movie in a wider aspect ratio is quite surprising for my parents.

The second thing we noticed is that many scenes of the movie is quite... erm... blurry. It could be an artistic choice, or it could be due to problems faced with transferring the movie into film reels. (Malaysian cinemas are still using the traditional film reel format for many of their venues, except for 3D movies, which are in modern digital projection, and some few "special" 2D digital venues for some Hollywood blockbusters.) Regardless, this does make it slightly difficult for us to read the company credits, which is thankfully only a minor thing.

After watching the movie, my parents decided to do some criticism with the movie's pacing and such. First, they felt that the main character being frequently mocked and harassed by a gang of bullies is quite too clichéd nowadays. Second, the manner in which the movie's pacing goes, it felt too random, and many scenes appear to be unnecessary and can be happily cut-off from the movie to improve pacing. There are less scenes of the Mantera suit actually being used in favor for more drama, except during the climax. Finally, the ending seemed sudden, unless if the filmmakers intend it to be a sequel hook for a possible sequel in the future.

My own verdict? I told my parents, "It's a start." Hopefully, with more funding, the Malaysian film industry can improve more, and we'll be sure to watch more Malaysian movies of epic Hollywood scale in the future.

I'm not sure if this movie will ever foresee any international release. But, if it will, I suggest watching this movie and make your own conclusions. After all, this movie is the work of collaboration between Malaysia and several countries, primarily Russia, so an international release isn't that far-fetching.

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