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'€˜Garuda Superhero'€™ Rehashing tropes, with less-than-exciting results

The end of the world as we know it: Mission Control frets as a meteor threatens to wipe out life on earth, in the film Garuda Superhero

Hans David Tampubolon (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, January 18, 2015

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'€˜Garuda Superhero'€™ Rehashing tropes, with less-than-exciting results The end of the world as we know it: Mission Control frets as a meteor threatens to wipe out life on earth, in the film Garuda Superhero. (Courtesy of Garuda Sinergi/Putaar Sinema) (Courtesy of Garuda Sinergi/Putaar Sinema)

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span class="inline inline-none">The end of the world as we know it: Mission Control frets as a meteor threatens to wipe out life on earth, in the film Garuda Superhero. (Courtesy of Garuda Sinergi/Putaar Sinema)

While talking to the press, Garuda Superhero director X-Jo touted his film as the first locally made movie using computer generated imagery (CGI). He told many stories of trying for more than 10 years to materialize a dream of producing the nation'€™s first CGI film.

Sadly, those 10 years might have been better utilized learning how to make an original motion picture. Garuda Superhero, despite its buzz, falls flat in every aspect, with sophomoric special effects, bad acting and blatant plagiarism all over the place.

The costume design for Garuda (Rizal Idrus) draws directly from Batman in The Dark Knight Rises. Nationalist fangeeks can argue that the similarity is a coincidence or that X-Jo is inspired '€” but the resemblance is striking, to say the least. Let'€™s hope Christopher Nolan'€™s attorneys aren'€™t watching.

Garuda also uses iron wings for gliding, something that any kid who grew up in the 1980s will remember from Silverhawks.

When Garuda is in human form, he'€™s a rich kid named Bara, son of the tycoon Derma (Robby Sugara).

Bara always works out. All the time. Push-ups, bench presses, etc., you name it. He does not seem to have any other job outside working out, except riding his fancy cars and motorcycles.

It is a bit strange for Derma to trust all of his wealth and asset to this kid who seems to have never learned how to do business the right way, but hey.

It turns out that Bara'€™s real name is Garuda Nusantara and he is actually adopted, which leads him '€” like Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight '€” to find solace in Tibet. Meanwhile, his spoiled brat sister Fla (Inzalna Balqis) is confused when their father is kidnapped by Durja (Slamet Rahardjo), the leader of a villainous gang who steals a nuclear rocket from the Indonesian government.

Other characters are also mostly inspired (ripped off) from Hollywood superhero movies.

Zyu (Alexa Key), one of the supervillains, resembles Marvel'€™s Black Widow in terms of apparel and fighting style, always spinning around with the camera focusing on her latex covered butt for no good reason.

It is a move X-Jo repeats over and over again in any battle scene involving Zyu.

Gull and Loco, two other villains played by expatriates, resemble, respectively, Bane from DC Comics and Deadpool from Marvel Comics.

Loco (Jacopo Maugeri, from the TransTV series Chef Traveller) and Gull (sinetron actor Roy Cunong, who died before the movie was finished) do little more than scream and punch the ground in the film '€” although Loco does get a good line or two by calling his bazooka his baby.

The only original character is Durja, played by the always delightful actor Slamet Rahardjo. As Garuda'€™s nemesis and the big boss villain, Durja is bit of a Joker-like sociopath. But at the very least, he has an original look that is not taken from any Hollywood movie.

X-Jo was also '€œinspired'€ by a lot of Hollywood-blockbuster movies.

Pablo Picasso allegedly said '€œgood artists borrow, great artists steal'€. It'€™s a philosophy that X-Jo implements with a whole heart '€” albeit amateurishly.

It is one thing to pay homage to other movies. It is something else to relentlessly appropriate the tropes of an endless number of disposable Hollywood blockbusters. This is not a mélange of themes; it'€™s just laziness.

Where to begin? The ending of the opening scene practically reuses the final scene of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

The opening '€” which features an alien attack over Metro City, a fictional Indonesian city with no resemblance to Superman'€™s Metropolis '€” is like Independence Day, only with far less professionalism talent designing the special effects.

Later, Garuda Superhero flashes back to a scene that shares surprising similarities to Michael Bay'€™s frenetic (some would say epileptic) masterpiece Armageddon: The (Indonesian) government wants to stop an asteroid by blowing it up with a nuclear bomb (named Gatotkaca, after the wayang character '€” nice touch).

Meanwhile, the fight scenes draw from films such as 300 and The Raid, which was an internationally acclaimed Indonesian movie recognized for its originality in depicting violence and martial arts. The battle between Zyu and antiterrorist unit chief Captain Dipo (Agus Kuncoro) evokes The Raid'€™s showdown between Mad Dog and Joko.

In any event, the prolonged, violent fights make the film even more awkward.

On one hand, the CGI might impress children '€” the film'€™s key demographic. However, an onslaught of scenes featuring impalements, slit throats and cold-blooded shots to the heads might raise the hackles of their parents.

Finally, the movie reaches its climax '€” or anti-climax: Instead of Garuda finishing the job himself, a random white guy comes out of nowhere '€” driving a truck '€” and runs over Zyu and Durja.

Who this truck driver is will remain a mystery until the end of the movie. He just randomly shows up and finishes the super villain.

The one positive note sounded by the movie is Slamet'€™s fine performance as Durja. The rest of the cast give horrific performances '€” but then again, that might be the fault of the horrific script, also penned by X-Jo.

Garuda Superhero is lazy and unoriginal. It'€™s a shame that Indonesia'€™s first CGI movie had to be a joke.

_________________

Garuda Superhero

Director: X-Jo
Producer: Dhoni Ramadhan
Cast: Rizal Idrus, Slamet Rahardjo, Alexa Key, Inzalna Balqis
Cinematographer: Yoyok Budi Santoso
Production company: Putaar Films
Run time: 85 minutes

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