"Puteri
Gunung Ledang" (**1/2)
Date: Thu
Sep 23, 2004 10:21 am
The most talked
about Malaysian movie this year. Looks good (RM15 million had been spent)
but lack substance. Try hard to be arty but yet wants to be commercial.
A good effort nevertheless as compared to the other local fare on offer
this year. The legend of the Javaness princess (Tiara Jacqueline) who
left home and up Mount Ophir waiting for her love, Hang Tuah (M. Nasir).
To prevent the imminent attack from the ruler of Demak, her brother,
the Majapahit ruler (Alex Komang) tries to marry her off to the ruler
of Demak but she had disappeared and so he resorted for help from Melaka
only to find a solution to marry her off to the rogue Sultan of Melaka
(Adlin Aman Ramlie). Good support from Sofia Jane as Tun Fatimah, Rahim
Razali as Bendahara and Chistine Hakim as the devoted royal nurse of
the princess.
From: "ryuwo"
Date: Mon Sep 27, 2004 5:31 pm
puteri gunung ledang:
i waited for this movie after seeing the preview a few months back.
being a fans of malaysia history and
malay literature myself, i wasn't that disappointed upon finished watching
this movie. the scenes are very good indeed. but there are a few weaknesses
that I noticed. #1: bad casts except the princess, the royal nurse,
the bendahara and tun fatimah. the sultan is totally crap. and m nasir
looks more like a gangster than a laksamana. #2: bad script. the language
used in the movie is not stable. some used classic malay while the sultan
is using modern malay? but of coz, nonetheless, this movie is quite
nice to watch. **those people sitting behind me, please stop repeating
the script using ur utterly bad malay language**
From: "pen_ise"
Date: Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:48 am
I have to admit,
I liked it a lot.
So, Tiara Jacq was
a little too old and a little too muscular, therefore, coming across
more as a TS than a pricess. M Nasir, was, well, M Nasir - if you've
seen him in any of his MTVs, he's basically doing what he's use to doing.
And, the Sultan came across as a punk with his Mat Rock hair-do. Still,
very watchable and touching.
My favourite scenes
were: (1) Puteri Gunung Ledang telepathically having a conversation
with her brother. I thought it was very well executed. (2) Puteri Gunung
Ledang appearing to the troupe led by Hang Tuah as the Nenek Kebayan.
Again, very well executed. (3) Puteri Gunung Ledang invoking the vines
to do her bidding by
performing some slick silat moves by the river - also very well executed.
(4) [My most favourite scene] Puteri Gunung Ledang appearing in the
Sultan's court just as the Sultan was about to sacrifice the crown price
to fulfill her demand for blood.
My gripe was the
scene where Hang Tuah and the Majapahit ruler dueled. Can't help feeling
the director was employing cheap, over-done HK 'tiu wa-yar' tricks.
I do agree that
the language yo-yoed between classical and modern Malay which can be
a little irritating at times.
Puteri
Santubong
From: ryuwo
Date: Wed Sep 29, 2004 8:05 pm
Yeah it is quite
a nice movie to watch. the only scene i really dont like is the everything
with the sultan. i like the part when tiara came into the castle when
the sultan about to sacrifice his prince. it is very touching. another
scene i think is quite abrupt that caused laughters is when the princess
danced with hang tuah. yes m nasir is really funny. cant help it. When
he first appeared at the market place, gosh, i thought he ketua lanun
if not for the taming sari and the tengkolok.
I think Tiara is
a good choice to play the role. although she is slightly muscular, but
she is good enough to play the role well. and she is pretty and charming.
Dont talk about
the sultan. Ugly and bad cast.
From: "Roman"
Date: Thu Sep 30, 2004 1:09 am
The scene that Tuah
suddenly dancing is really funny, me n my frens were shocked... I almost
wanna cry when the princess went back to her "room" and crying
out loud when noticed that she wont be able to see Tuah anymore near
the ending…
From: "Niel"
Date: Wed Sep 29, 2004 8:23 am
I did initially
complained alot about this movie. For a budget for RM26M (I guess half
of it went to the agency for promotion), I was expecting alot. It is
certainly one of the better Malay/local movies out there. I found plenty
of problems, set (esp Majapahit's brick wall 'palace' and the mini kampung
used to represent Melaka)and the
storyline as well. The love story wasnt strong enough to move the audiences
and the ending was too vague. It was a good try...I like it better when
Gusti Putri and Hang Tuah embraces each another from afar instead of
doing it physically. It was certainly an asian touch.
