Movie Review - Silat Warriors: Deed of Death

Silat Warriors: Deed of Death ** (out of five) (Unrated) This martial arts drama offers some novelty, in that Malaysian action films haven’t been widely distributed on this side of the Pacific. Here we get plenty of intense, though mainly bloodless, fight sequences, but not much in the way of protagonists to care about. I should qualify the last half of that sentence - some of the character-defining exposition may have been lost in translation, or cultural transition. For example, I have no idea what the title means in relation to the content. Others may.

Mat Arip (Fad Anuar) is such an unrepentant gambler and party animal that it’s hard to care what happens to him as he continually burdens his peasant family to financial and physical harm from his debts. Fortunately, his mom, brother and sister are skilled enough at hand-to-hand combat that they keep their heads above water, and on their shoulders, longer than appearances would foretell. Meanwhile, Mat Arip stays amazingly stupid for way too long, incurring even greater debts, despite the lies and cheating from his bevy of creditors and their minions.

The film is quite watchable for its action sequences, even though the story falls short in fleshing out characters we understand and root for. The wastrel son puts everyone at risk time and again; the family readily accepts liability for his debts, and rallies to his rescue when he’s done little to earn or reciprocate such loyalty. If you see it, stick around after the credits for a Marvel-style sequel teaser. (Streaming July 2)