Writer: Nurul Yezid

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Watch this if you liked: "Brave" & "Papadom"

Looking at the poster, immediately the first thing that would click in most people's mind is the similarity of it to that of the Grand Theft Auto game. Taking inspiration from one of the most popular games in the world, the idea came from local actor/director Afdlin Shauki himself. The idea may seem novel, but it did not really translate well to the overview of this movie.

The movie in essence is about Afdlin Shauki ("Los & Faun") as a man named Tong/Shuhaimi Abdullah and his brother in law Pairot, whose arrival in Malaysian airport caused them to be whisked away by the airport security upon finding out they were involved in some gangster's activity back in Thailand. Upon being interrogated by two Interpol detectives, Adlin Aman Ramlie ("Puteri Gunung Ledang") as Detektif Azman and Johan of Raja Lawak famed as Detektif Azlan, Tong begins to unravel his tale from way back when they were in Thailand up until they came to Malaysia.

The movie originally was shot in Thailand about 3 years ago and was marketed as "Brave". However due to the rampant piracy in Malaysia, the movie failed to be marketed here. Thus, this is where "Berani Punya Budak" uniqueness came about. Instead of shooting a new movie, the director and those involved decided to dub the entire movie with a different script, and adding the occasional new scenes into the mix. The effort is commendable at best; however, the newly added script seems like a big pile of mess.

The original film was supposed to be an action movie with some minor comedic scenes, but instead the new script dubbed into the movie turned the film into a comedy. Apart from that, the dialogue in this movie is all jumbled up and to some who do not pay attention, would have probably missed the storyline altogether.

Furthermore, the so-called humorous lines were supposed to be funny, but they turned out rather forced and rehashed from other movies of similar genre.

The visual and action scenes are nothing to shout about, as they pretty much are the same as any other action movie in Malaysia. The only positive note about this movie is the never ending fighting scenes of the Thai actors, for which some of them were said to be hospitalised because of the intensity of the fighting scenes, and because no body doubles were used.

So if you are the kind of person who enjoys a very light film, this movie is definitely for you. But if you are expecting for more, then it might leave you disappointed, however do watch it if you are curious about the first ever movie in Malaysia to use the dubbing technic.

The movie opens in cinema this 26 April 2012.

Cinema Online, 17 April 2012