Paskal: The Movie

In this day and age where the Malaysian Film industry is filled with nothing but Slapstick Comedy/Gangster Flicks/Over The Top Horror movies, Paskal The Movie is like a breath of fresh air. Right from the get go, the audience is taken on an action filled ride, with enough guns and army lingo to make the men satisfied, and hunks to keep the ladies happy. The film explores the journey of Leftenan Arman and his journey as a Paskal. Here we see him struggle as he contemplates between his duty to his nation, or his responsibilities as a son. The film's villain, Jeb, kinda reminds me of Michael B Jordan's Kilmonger in Black Panther; evil, conniving and full of swagger. The film also showed the audience a peek behind the rigourous training every Paskal has to go through to earn the right of wearing the coveted red beret. All in all, this film does a fine job in shedding a light onto a subject matter that many do not know. Many a times during the movie I caught myself falling under the impression that the movie I am watching right now is made in Hollywood. I am constantly amazed by just how much production value this film has. The stigma that Malaysian films are just Low-Budget and non Creative is thrown out the window with this film. Hopefully Paskal The Movie becomes the standard by which future action films in the region should be working towards. If you are a fan of films like The Raid, I highly recommend Paskal The Movie.

Putting aside the main actors and their ability to act; this unique gem of a Malaysian movie stands out as one of the best to break the generic genres plaging Malaysia cinema. The strength of this movie lies squarely on their faithful interpretation of military tactics and deployment. Which was beautifully done. It started strong showing a glimpse of how PASKAL operates and its internal culture. However, I suppose it may be their undoing to introduce personal vendettas making it look like an 80's B rate action movie that would make Jan Micheal Vincent blush. That is the weak link in this movie and killed off a great momentum.

In this day and age where the Malaysian Film industry is filled with nothing but Slapstick Comedy/Gangster Flicks/Over The Top Horror movies, Paskal The Movie is like a breath of fresh air. Right from the get go, the audience is taken on an action filled ride, with enough guns and army lingo to make the men satisfied, and hunks to keep the ladies happy. The film explores the journey of Leftenan Arman and his journey as a Paskal. Here we see him struggle as he contemplates between his duty to his nation, or his responsibilities as a son. The film's villain, Jeb, kinda reminds me of Michael B Jordan's Kilmonger in Black Panther; evil, conniving and full of swagger. The film also showed the audience a peek behind the rigourous training every Paskal has to go through to earn the right of wearing the coveted red beret. All in all, this film does a fine job in shedding a light onto a subject matter that many do not know. Many a times during the movie I caught myself falling under the impression that the movie I am watching right now is made in Hollywood. I am constantly amazed by just how much production value this film has. The stigma that Malaysian films are just Low-Budget and non Creative is thrown out the window with this film. Hopefully Paskal The Movie becomes the standard by which future action films in the region should be working towards. If you are a fan of films like The Raid, I highly recommend Paskal The Movie.