Brief Story Line
Suci Larasati (Chelsea Islan - Headshot, Sebelum Iblis Menjemput etc) was a young woman aspiring to become a great stunt person like her father Rama (Mathias Muchus - Hangout, Toba Dreams etc). She got scholarship to study in Jakarta and was living together with her best friend Maudy (Agnes Naomi - One Night Stand etc) and her mother Bu Wenny (Asri Welas - Cek Toko Sebelah 2 etc). Her part time gig though, took a lot of time resulting the need to take remedial class led by assistant lecturer Ben (Bhisma Mulia - Sobat Ambyar etc).
When she got the job as stunt-woman for her childhood idol Widya Laksono (Karina Suwandi - Hit & Run etc), Suci thought it was a dream come true. However, she got a bit of resistance from the fight choreographer Haikal (Jeremie Juanito), the son of dirty politician Angkasa Prabaswara (Egi Fedly - Panggonan Winit etc). Things gotten complicated for Suci when she was caught in the middle of ritualistic ceremony that endangered the lives of children. Ever since then, Suci had to juggle between her study, work and also to protect herself and the people she loved the most.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this series.
End of Brief Story Line
The first episode of the series was quite OK with the introduction of the lead characters and a bit of action. It was not too spectacular but enough to keep me interested in finding out more. As the story progressed though, I started to feel that it was a lot to absorb as the writers seemed adamant to combine the story of supernatural event, political issue, territorial fights, romance and many other things into one. Which was probably the reason it took me a while to finish this series as my enthusiasm grew less (started off since last Saturday, took a break few days before finishing the last 3 episodes yesterday) .
I actually had high hopes watching this one as I read some articles few weeks before the series was released that it was seriously made using large visual effects and stunts team. This would explain the high production budget for the series. The special effects were not disappointing and in term of fights, I was quite satisfied in general. Although there were few times the speeding up looked too obvious which was a bit of let down cause for such high budget, I think they could have done them softer.
As a series set in BCU, I was expecting to see a bit of crossover from the previous movies or probably hint for the next superhero or events. But I could only find one very brief scene in episode 6 which was probably more like easter egg rather than a real reference. It made me feel the series as a stand alone and one of a kind rather than part of a shared universe. Even the mid end credit scene in the finale was to show us the direction for the future of the series. Yes, the ending was definitely to set up for second season cause it did not have a proper conclusion, but not too sure yet if they are going to proceed with it. Btw, the series was adaptation of popular 1975 comic books of the same title by Nono GM.
Some of the cast here were pretty decent, although few were not too convincing. I am OK with Chelsea Islan as she seemed suitable in her role and my favorites were Mathias Muchus who was so amazing as the loving and understanding father of Suci, plus Asri Welas as the mother of her best friend Maudy. Aside from the names I mentioned above, there were few important characters too like Madam Ing Lan (Sari Koeswoyo - Asal Kau Bahagia etc), politician Gun Mardiono (Marcell Siahaan - Wiro Sableng: Pendekar Kapak Maut Naga Geni 212 etc), gangster leader Deo (Volland Humonggio - Sang Dewi etc) and few child actors. They did not exactly leave a good impression to me and not too memorable either. Probably because of how their characters were written.
The story telling was something that I felt not the strongest suit in the series. The plot twist was unconvincing and there were few scenes that I felt could have been done differently to make them better (especially that super power to influence people). I was ready to dub the 6th episode as my most favorite because of the great start, fast pace and full of action. But they made the timeline totally wrong. I mean if you find out a very important information and still could not make it in time despite the other party doing something else first, then it did not make sense. Still that episode was more entertaining than the rest. Not even the finale was that good for me.
Overall this was a series that sadly failed to live up to my high expectation. The combination of overly complicated story and various plots and few obvious illogical parts made it less enjoyable. However, the special effects were pretty decent and the action (aside from those that were not sped up properly) were quite a joy to watch. There was a bit of violence but not up to the level of gore, although there was one rather brutal scene in episode 5. So if you are interested in watching Indonesian superhero series with all those attributes, then you are welcome to give it a try. With better writings, it could have been a lot better series.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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