A Legendary Love (2004)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Just perfect...

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

As kids back home in Malaysia, we were told of legendary warriors, magical princesses, powerful kings, mysterious places, epic battles, and curses which made us shiver in the night. And no other tale combines these elements more effectively than the story of the legendary Princess of Mount Ledang and the Malaccan empire. So, with a deep story already written, throw in a solid cast, with an explosive budget... what could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a bit, actually. But before we get into that, let's get into what's good about the movie. For one, the expensive production is really evident from the movie - the props, the picture quality, the setting, the sounds. On the surface, Puteri Gunung Ledang (PGL) is a real visual treat, and is a nice portrayal on how the Malaccan empire back in those times. The story is told rather well, and it is interesting to see the mythology in full graphic detail, with some pretty good storytelling across the board.A bloated production, however, doesn't quite make this movie what it could - and should - have been. The movie opens up with M. Nasir as Admiral Hang Tuah, the legendary Malaccan warrior, bringing a couple of bandits to justice. This was an excellent opener. The story then begins with the royal expedition between two great empires. For the first 30 minutes, i was hooked and impressed - the fight scenes, backdrops, beautifully handled shots, and interesting dialogue; at that point, i was convinced that this could possibly be a great movie. However, the momentum just breaks off completely, and as the story drags to the two-and-a-half hour mark, my interest slowly wanes off into boredom.So, what's wrong with it? How could they mess up such brilliant opening sequences? It's mainly the storytelling. The opening sequences laid out set piece after set piece, leading viewers to believe that this could lead to a powerful climax.. but.. the climax is just unsatisfying and ultimately somewhat predictable. True, some of us know the story already, but really, we were looking for the execution to have that extra ZEST. The buildup is long and draggy, and the final scenes are unexciting and lifeless.My biggest gripe with the movie,is the actual love story itself. Yes, we all know that PGL is basically a love story. So why don't we feel the intensity of this love? The writing and direction hardly makes us care for the couple, and we never truly feel the deep emotion and sacrifice which they go through. It's just running around, and trading well-written poetry. Furthermore, the portrayal of the empires seem a bit weak and not as powerful as we were led to believe. All that said, there are some notable performances throughout the movie. M Nasir excels superbly as Hang Tuah, and plays his part out superbly. The sultan of Malacca, as well as the Queen, is played exceptionably well, too. Tiara Jacquelina was okay, but she was hampered by mediocre dialogue. The only problem I have with these characters isn't the acting, but rather the overall script - most of them weren't really portrayed with enough depth to make us care for them. Overall, I am quite disappointed with the movie. Given the production budget, list of superb actors, and great background plot, this would have been a surefire hit. Instead it misses the mark, having a dragged-out, unsatisfying story, relying on the fat production to work out its magic. Still, like I mentioned, I have faith that if someone could pick up where this movie left off, and improve these crucial areas, this could be a great movie (and in fact, I was told the theatrical play is much better, which is a good sign). As a movie, however, PGL isn't all that good. I would still recommend the movie for everyone, just to learn on the myth itself, but don't expect the legendary love epic that will blow you away.

I thought this movie was a good effort to move the Malaysian movie industry forward. Yes, it was abit slow paced, but at least it wasn't one of those stereotypical movies you had in the mid 90's. What I'm irritated about is the fact that you keep mentioning the fact that the bad movies are made by MALAY people and the movies are dominated by MALAY people. Whats your problem against the Malays? You're supposed to comment about the movie, no one cares about your involvement in the film,the fact that you're one of the musicians (big huge freakin deal) plus you're being a pure racist because you keep bringing up the point that despite the fact that the movie is made by a Chinese, its still slow moving. Are you trying to imply that it should have been better because it was made by a Chinese and if it was directed by a Malay , it would have sucked?! The oh-so rotten Malay movie scene? You mean MALAYSIAN movie scene don't you? Because other than Malay movies being made in Malaysia, we sure don't hear about Chinese people making movies in Malaysia, or do you? Why do you point out at the Malays so much? If you're going to post a comment about a movie, keep it real. No one wants to read your stupid racist comments or your minor involvement in the movie. Get over the race issue already and GROW up!

I was overawed when I saw this movie. It was beyond expectation. A malay movie finally as good as any blockbuster Hollywood movie! Pundits will say that the storyline is not true to history but this movie remind me of the greatest movie of all time "The Titanic" - itself a love story set against a historical incident. As in the movie Titanic, the storyline is fictional though based on legendary malay figures. Though the movie could have been improved somewhat overall it is the greatest malay movie of all time. The opening intro of Hang Tuah was commendable, however I feel the character could have been developed more to show his silat prowess and mystique in the malay community. Tiara Jacqueline is perfect as the princess. She is drop dead gorgeous. Though there are censorship limitations nevertheless I felt more could have been explored in her love story with Hang Tuah.Syabas Puteri Gunung Ledang, I salute you.

This handsomely mounted period epic set during the 16th century Malaccan empire is Malaysia's most expensive film at US$5M. The princess of Majapahit, Retno Dumillah, exiles herself to the Malaccan peak of Mount Ophir to entreat the company of her lover, the Malaccan warrior Hang Tuah. This is in open defiance of her brother, Gusti Adipati, the ruler of Majapahit, who had intended to marry her to a prince of the rival Demak empire. Adipati then decides to forge an alliance with the Malaccan sultanate instead by offering his sister as bride to the reigning Sultan, Mahmud. Hang Tuah's allegiance to duty is legendary. He slew his best friend, Hang Jebat, many years prior on the Sultan Mansor's orders. However, the Sultan Mahmud, a preening and decadent ruler, is a pale shadow of the glorious lineage of Malaccan royalty. Should Hang Tuah banish forever his love in favor of a vainglorious tyrant?Production values are excellent in general. Picture overall has a glossy, polished sheen. Some inexperience in photography is evident – an intruding palm frond at the edges of the frame, actors half cut off at the sides, shot suddenly partially blocked by the back of an actor in front of the camera (!). The period milieu and mise-en-scene are gorgeous, the palace rituals and traditional malay / javanese speech appear authentic. Nice background research there. The music is excellent with a nice mix of western strings and Malay traditional instruments like the sruling during the love scenes and rebana in the palace scenes. The acting is uniformly above par across the board, especially M. Nasir as the legendary warrior, Hang Tuah. Malaysian actors are some of the finest in this region and Nasir carries a screen presence that conveys the nobility of this most famous of perwira melayu. It is also nice to see Rahim Razali, a household screen personality, in an amiable performance as the Tok Bendahara. Tiara Jacquelina as the titular princess is adequately winsome. The script, however, does not allow her to show why she was such a sought after woman. Sofia Jane appears more assured as the Sultan's wife. Adlin Ramlee's alternately cocky, languid and foppish portrayal of Sultan Mahmud takes some getting used to, but in retrospect, it seems about right. Both the princess and the sultan get a chance to shine with a neat verbal confrontation near the end. The standout is Christine Hakim who, quite frankly, is a class act. Alex Komang is a washout in a poorly written role as the Majapahit prince, consisting exclusively of sneers and scowls.The story overall could do with a lot more dramatic urgency. Many sequences look thrown in to appease the multiplex crowd, inserted without attention to the overall arc of the story. An earlier sequence of Hang Tuah taking on a posse of 'lanun darat' is very well done. However, there is a gratuitous action sequence which comes in so far off leftfield, involving some silly 70s- style kungfu fighting, that threatens to derail the entire film. This is the sort of action sequence where a fighter slashes his dagger in the air and ten fireballs erupt around him from the ground. Although this was meant as a 'battle of the mind', the overall effect is laughably cheesy. Worse, the whole sequence is arbitrarily inserted at a most inappropriate part of the narrative – there is no buildup and aftermath. Likewise, CGI superimposition of the 'seven requests of the princess', floating across the screen like a ticker tape, is ungainly. Elsewhere, instead of character driven scenes, we get actors who pose and pose while mouthing purple prose. Many issues are unfocused as a result. Why and how did Hang Tuah and Dumillah fall in love? There are nice scenes of the couple riding horseback, doing an intricate courtship dance, at a lake. They look pretty, like postcards of two people in love, but the scenes lack actual resonance. At one point, Hang Tuah shows the princess his big Keris; she stares in awe at it. Unfortunately, no character driven dialog. The crucial scene where Hang Tuah meets his beloved atop Mount Ophir starts off nicely: like a breathless teenager hopelessly late for a date, he blurts: 'Dah tunggu lama ke?' ('Been waiting long?'). However, this is proceeded by endless swooping, panning and swirling of the camera around the actors including editing that I believe violate the 180 degree rule. All that 'technique' is frankly distracting. What's wrong with action-reaction, medium two shots and close-ups anyway? There are more than several shots where the emphasis was more on a sunset or a waterfall than the characters themselves. Anyway, the lovers go at it with dialog cribbed from a Harlequin romance. Whither the inner conflict of the noble warrior between love and duty? We do get a solitary soliloquy of sorts: Hang Tuah talking to his reflection in a puddle of water like a refugee from an Ingmar Bergman film, and that's it. Why the great animosity between Hang Tuah and the Java prince? The film offers absolutely no exposition there.Being a prestige film, direction is serious and high minded. However, this is largely betrayed by a dearth of psychological depth and dramatic weight. A certain lack of joie-de-vivre permeates the film, making one wish that the late great P. Ramlee could lend his charismatic presence to the whole proceedings.The film ends poetically with Hang Tuah rushing up Mount Ophir in a sequence of solemn and hushed silence, in a moment of cathartic realization and sadness. The broad strokes for a grand tragedy are all there, but the interlocking narrative is unfocused. It's like hearing bits and pieces of a symphony from a distance. It's a shame: the money saved from that silly bit of aerial kungfu fighting could have gone towards additional scenes between the two main characters – the final sequence could have had much more impact.