A year ago, a hand-to-hand action film by the director was released in Malaysia Adriana Te under a simple and concise name "Wira", which in the local language translates as "Hero". And it would be better if our localizers left their native name, and did not come up with their own, which seems to correspond to the essence at least partially, but of the paintings with the title "Retribution" There are already several. "Hero" also met before, but still that’s what it’s called in the original, and there’s no need to come up with a gag. However, this is not so important. This is just a wrapper, and the main thing, as everyone knows, is the content.
It so happened that the film became available in the rest of the world in 2020. Now, in terms of producing hand-to-hand action films, Malaysia is catching up with Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, which, undoubtedly, cannot but please fans of beautiful fights. Healthy competition is always good. You see, other exotic countries, where cinema is not yet well developed, will follow their example, and they will begin to shoot their own action films not only for the domestic, but also for the “external” market.
The movie itself "Wira" begins with a fight scene in a mixed martial arts hall in the ring between two girls, which sets the mood in a certain way. The fight is staged and filmed beautifully, spectacularly, replete with a variety of techniques and strikes, very dynamic and quite brutal. In each participant in the battle one can see the spirit of victory, determination, courage, ardor, even a certain inner strength is felt. Most likely, both actresses are familiar with martial arts firsthand. Later it becomes known that this is not a professional fight between athletes, but a showdown between themselves, due to personal motives and even, to some extent, personal hostility. The main character’s sister (you can call her the main character) and the daughter of the main mafia boss, who runs all the affairs in the city, having an underground drug production business, fought in the ring. As the film progresses, these two girls will clash with each other in hand-to-hand combat more than once. So, those who like to watch female fights should definitely check out this film. And for those who don’t, it’s still worth doing it, because the film has something to look at in terms of action and besides girly fistfights.
I mean the main star of the film - Khairula Azrina, who in real life has a black belt in taekwondo. And where were you before? The guy is still young, so I hope that he will become a famous action actor with a decent filmography. He plays a young man named Hasan, who returns home after serving in the army to his family, consisting of his father and his sister named Zain, played by Fifi Azmi. An ordinary semi-poor family in debt to the local crime boss Raja - everything is standard here. The main character also faces the standard problem in such cases of misunderstanding between relatives. Using his arguments, he asks his father to drop everything and leave. He, in turn, resists and gives his reasons to stay. The sister harbors resentment and anger towards her brother, and he is trying to apologize and establish friendly contact with her. She also somehow caused a deep insult to Raja, after which Hassan begins to make attempts to free the family from the debt. And if the children of the mafia leader were not so hot and hot-tempered, then all the characters in the film would be alive. I try not to blame action films for the hackneyed plot points, for the absence or lack of something new, because everything that could be invented has already been invented - all the plots and stories. That's why I don't even focus my attention on such things.
The action is represented by purely hand-to-hand combat using both clubs and bladed weapons, as well as bare hands and feet. It is beautiful and varied. It cannot be said that the fights go on non-stop, one after another without stopping. There is also a decent amount of time devoted to dialogues and quiet scenes. But nevertheless, there is quite a lot of fighting. A large number of different locations that have become battlefields, and none of them are repeated. The choreography deserves special applause. Of course, because none other than himself was responsible for the production Yayan Ruhian, if I am not mistaken. This man needs no introduction, so I’ll just say that he coped with his task one hundred percent. And his handwriting becomes recognizable to fans of action films, just like a similar handwriting Tim Man. In addition to staging fights, he also has a small role as Raja's security chief. He has, as they say, as much screen time as Gulkin, and even less lines, but the final battle is entirely his. As you might guess, his character, named Ifrit, is the most dangerous opponent on the path of our heroes, which he fully confirms in the finale of the film, when he fights with our two main characters - brother and sister. Here again a parallel arises with the final battle from the first "Reida", where Rukhyan’s character fought in an unequal fight with two opponents at once, and almost emerged victorious. Oh, what a tense fight it was! And how furious! There is a similar layout here, but instead of two guys, there is a guy and a girl, and the location is different. There are a lot of foreign and bulky objects in the room, so the conditions are quite cramped, but this even makes it interesting. And again, Yayan's character, by the way he acts, seems stronger than both the characters combined. The battle is intense, ferocious, brutal, very dynamic and uncompromising. A brilliant climax. After it, the showdown directly with the boss himself already looks like a breeze.
Other action scenes besides the first and last are also worth watching. An interesting duel in the ring, where Hassan and Zain faced off with Raja's children - V and Ryan. Moreover, all four fought with each other at the same time, and at first the situation was unequal: the girl started fighting against the guy and the guy against the girl. This choice was made by Raja's children; they were the aggressors. And if Zane had plenty of motivation for a fight, then her brother didn’t like this idea of a fight from the very beginning, and if it weren’t for his sister, most likely he would have refused. That’s why he fights in the ring more mechanically, without passion in his eyes or emotions. But all this will appear later, as will healthy “sports” anger, although the struggle will then go on for life and health. But even then, he tries not to kill anyone and, when possible, stabs with the head of the knife, not the blade. Also noteworthy is the bus segment when the main characters return home and are attacked by Raja's men. The moment that turned out to be especially cool was when the camera, simultaneously with the body thrown out of the bus window, smoothly flew out into the street, described an arc and also smoothly entered the cabin through the rear broken glass. It feels like the filming was done from a quadcopter and there are several such scenes in the film. And all this time a fierce fight took place in the cabin. The cinematography in the film is generally excellent, with almost no complaints. Long takes, minimum splices. In some places there is a lack of contact, in some moments where the enemy’s head meets some hard object on the way, although it almost does not spoil the impression, since the percentage of coolness greatly outweighs the percentage of hackwork. The lighting in action scenes is also okay, even if the action takes place in the dark or in a dark room.
Well, the Malaysians were able to please me, now I will be more curious about the action films they produce. Hope, Khairul Azrina has a great future in action cinema, and he will not disappear from the screens to God knows where. In the meantime, another gem has been added to my movie collection.
Sergey Volkolak
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