Maut - the review

So after having hung about the shooting of Maut, then named Malaikat Maut before the change in title some two years ago ketika shooting kat Sentul - did Maut live up to my expectations?

Yes and no.

It's not really a horror as the title would directly suggest. In fact, being a lover of horror movies, I was hardly - not even mildly horrified by any part of it - apart from the atrocious use of lighting which was as good as shoving a floodlight up someone's bum and asking them to direct it randomly. Matilah awal awal da nak carut... kannnnn!!!

Like I said, hampir dua tahun lepas, aku penah cover shooting adengan car crash yang korang akan dapat tengok dalam cita ketiga yang melibatkan Que, Sherry, Awal dan Nana. Lapan jam lebih gak dok set tengok meka wat. Also had a long talk with abang Bade over his vision for the movie then.

Ok... let's see. Opening the movie, and in between, the graphics of a tree, yang gugur daun tiap kali tuh, as a non Muslim aku memang tak paham... sehingga kengkawan explain. So the tree is life, and tiap kali daun gugur tuh there's a death, and malaikat maut akan menjalankan tugas. Erm... ok then.

Mai start filem ni yang ala syampu Rejoice 3 in 1.

STORY #1
Si Lina ni naik bas, kebetulan si Fadilah is on it as well... looking bored to death. Maybe she is dead cause lakonan ia memang tahap mayat bergerak. Oops!

Tetiba, kat umah, si Lina dapat tamu. Rupanya si Fadilah ketok pintu mintak tolong sebab beg dia kena ragut and she needs shelter for the night sebab dia tak dapat teruskan perjalanan dia balik ke rumah makcik dia.

Esoknya, si Fadilah vanishes into thin air. Ilang terus without a trace, dan takde orang percaya cita si Lina. Especially bila kuar berita yang Fadilah nih missing.

At the end of it, rupanya si Fadilah has been raped and murdered and her body is found by Lina yang guided to look for answers.

What did I think?
Well, first of all, the premise of the story was quite interesting, though not exactly unique. Berapa banyak cita da kita layan pasal souls returning to guide the living with the agenda to seek peace over their untimely demise. So as the opening number gituh, I don't think this was a good lead in, as it didn't bear any promise of the other two stories to come.

The problems with continuity didn't help. Konon Lina dan si housemate dia tengok berita, and she realises it was the girl that had slept over - ngarut sangat. Tatau la aku missed something, tapi tanpa imej perempuan tu, aku wonder how the hell did Lina figure out it was the same girl.

Also the character of Lina ni tak strong and there is no related spooking to make it believable yang dia sanggup go through all the problems of finding out what happened to Fadilah.

Back soal conti, I wonder how Lina found Fadilah's parents' home, and leh percaya ke yang stakat berbekalkan info Fadilah dia sanggup redah carik tempat yang Fadilah kata nak headed.

Bab kawasan kubur tuh - it was laughable to imagine one area yang Bukit haper si Fadilah tuh bagitau, takde rumah bagai... I mean.. oh never mind.

What's even more laughable is that with her body being out in the elements for days, decomposition would have set into quite advanced stages, but part mayat ditunjuk sikit nampak flawless je. And yet leh terbau? Someone who wants to do stuff like this please do your homework. Jangan lak pasni alasan - tu la... strange circumstances... ko kena paham... tu yang peliknya. Puh-lease.

Erm... and dare I mention the abuse of the KLCC skyline and sound effect nak horrify orang yang nan ado jadiknya?

Overall - it was tahap drama TV je, and lakonan kesemua pelakon kayu abih, even Liyana (sorry gurl... you know I love you but this is not our best)

Maybe it's just me, but seriously there was no direction nor build up for the second story. And what's with Danny's character balak takleh pakai tuh? Waste of time, and space, which like so many things in the story - brought nothing to the storyline at all.


STORY #2
Ni lak cita si Farah yang pramugari. Dia kawin ngan mamat omputeh sekor ni and hidup dia bergelumang dosa gituh - bila hidup nya Islam pada nama saja bukan amalan.

Waking up in a hospital - Farah cita pada sorang minah ni yang helps her out, about how she died and was tormented in hell before given a second chance.

Ok... honestly this story paling sesuai tuk slot drama swasta Very TV drama quality.

It's preachy, overdrawn and just cliched!

Dari dialog, ke adengan meka melakukan memacam maksiat, it seemed so fake and composed in the mind of someone who must have envisioned a typecast lifestyle.

The CGI ok ok though... tapi masuk bab dia diseksa tuh, cam a cartoon version of Mummy Returns lak. I don't know... maybe the visual effects were better, but with a huge freaking disclaimer plastered taking up half the screen, I couldn't tell.

Acting skills were virtually non existent - and at this point, technical issues including out of focus shots and really bad lighting direction was enough to get me shaking my head. Which was a step up from laughing at the really bad script.


STORY #3
If you thought cita ketiga ni was going to save everything, tajuk albumnya NAN ADOOOO!!!

Cita ni mengenai JJ yang feeling black metal dan bertatu dan bergaul bebas... semua bebas la sampai ngongkek sana sini. Of course no scenes of that lor.

Dalam perjalanan balik dari konsert black metal yang sebenarnya lebih meyerupai konsert Siti Nurhaliza tapi cuma lighting gelap with a very bad singer screeching again cliched lines of worshiping the dark lord - JJ dan kengkawan dia kemalangan.

At this point I must add, yang like the second story, everything seems so contrived and cliched.

Sambung balik, kematian JJ tak aman langsung, sampai lubang kubur pun tanak tima. Very the local urban legend tau... this me likey. Localised content for our brand of horror. Cuba lebihkan elemen camni tuk identiti kita sendiri.

I really have to commend Que Haidar. His performance made the whole movie worth watching with him being in his element - just like in Syaitan. Sakit bontot aku nak alih kiri kanan nak elak kebas, tak sabar movie ni habih, berbaloi hanya kerana dapat tengok lakonan dia yang bebetol menjadi tuk hidupkan watak JJ.

Lain dari tuh... this film menjadi horror - sebab aku tak caya they still can make this kind of movies.

It's not as bad as Congkak - which was I think one of those movies yang bebetol memalukan filem Melayu. Maut has promise, just maybe the direction was too cliched, and too drawn from things we've all seen too much off by someone who may not have done enough homework into relevant topics that was to be potrayed.

At the end of the day, the moral of the whole film aku leh summarise is this :
Story #1 - This shit COULD happen to you!
Story #2 - This shit NEARLY happened to you!
Story #3 - Damn you bitches! Da warning ngan dua story masih tak sedar diri - nih diaaaaa one way tiket ke neraka lahanat oiii!!!

Heh... matilah pepandai je aku.

So is Maut worth going to the cinemas for? Yeah well.... it is. If only for Que Haidar's acting and the occasionally interesting camera work selain niat menyokong filem Malaysia. Just keep your expectations low. I know aku for one, wished abang Bade tak wat filem ni after he amazed me with Syaitan which I thought was an interesting piece of work.

Korang gi layan Maut ok. The movie from Tayangan Unggul has a mixed cast of new and upcoming and more experienced names in Liyana Jasmay, Sabrina Hassan, Que Haidar, Eja, Hasnul Rahmat, Hamidah Wahab, Awal Ashaari, Diana Danielle, Mohamad Bathich, Raja Farah,
Noreminadiya, Mohd Kardanie, Danny, Fauziah Nawi dan ramai lagik kot yang aku tak ingat.

It opens 15 Januari. Korang gi tengok.. pastu mai komen balik korang setuju ke tak pandangan aku ek.

Sokong filem tempatan!!! (ni statement wajib selagik lom busuk tahap Congkak)


PS - For more info and images from maut - KLIK SINI