KL Gangster

KL Gangster is a 2011 Malaysian action film written and directed by Syamsul Yusof, (who also starred in the film). The film stars Aaron Aziz, Ady Putra, Soffi Jikan and Zizan Razak. KL Gangster follows Malek (Aziz) who is a former gangster fresh out of prison, wanting to change his life.

KL Gangster is reported as the one of the first Malaysian-made films to reach the collection point of $3,309,610 (10 million) in local cinemas.^[2] KL Gangster (reaching past the 10 million mark) beat the overall record held by Ngangkung (another Malaysian-made film) which released in 2010. This film is a direct sequel to KL Gangster 2

Plot

KL Gangster tells the story of two brothers Malek (Aaron Aziz) and Jai (Ady Putra) who are entrapped in the gangster world. Malek was imprisoned for years due to being betrayed by his own group's masterminded, Shark (Syamsul Yusof) who is a stepchild to the King (Ridzuan Hashim), a leader of the most influential secret societies in KL. For Malek, after his release from prison, he wants to change the perception of life and stay away from the black life as a gangster.

Routine normal life while caring for his aged mother, but as a former prisoner stigmatised by society is quite difficult for Malek at first. He is often interrupted by former gangster members who still bear a grudge with him, until the King appears, and offers help to Malek start so he can start his new life. The King had ordered his men not to disrupt Malek, which is disliked by Shark, who wants to be the next "King" in KL. In contrast, his brother, Jai, who is still alive, has continued to link himself with the gangster world.

For Jai, the material luxuries of life is everything, and believes that this can only be achieved with the black world of work, willing to do anything for money and power. To do this, Jai completes missions for Shark. Jai is the one who will step forward to help Shark in any fight or gang confrontation, quickly becoming his right-hand man. But with the emergence of Malek, Shark feels increasingly threatened, feeling challenged. With various possible ways to bring down Malek, every single plan is constantly thwarted by his stepfather, King, who often defends Malek, regarding himself and Malek as friends.

King does not enjoy the hassle of constantly thwarting Shark's attempts to get at Malek, with Shark now involving other gangster groups to get at Malek. This makes the relationship with King and Shark cold. For King, reconciling with Malek is helping and showing a good gesture towards him. For Shark, Malek causes everything wrong. With Shark ordered to remove Malek's brother, Jai, to get at Malek directly, loyalty becomes tested.

Cast

• Aaron Aziz as Malek
• Syamsul Yusof as Shark
• Ady Putra as Jai
• Sofi Jikan as Ajib
• Zizan Razak as Fadil
• Ridzuan Hashim as King
• Adam Corrie as Dragon
• Ku Faridah as Mak
• Sheera Iskandar as Zati
• Anna Halim as Erin

Reception

Gua.com.my gave KL Gangster 4/5 stars, commenting on the film as "realistic".^[3] Azwan Annuar, however, commented more on the story stating: "there is enough action in the film, but it is also a simple story. A connecting story of triad groups in Kuala Lumpur. It can be said of the conflict that exists in the reality of the community here."

According to The Portal,^[4] who publish commentaries before films are screened to the public, described the acting portrayed by each character as "fascist". According to another review, "the effectiveness of the highlighted characters managed to impress the audience and makes the story interesting to watch. Praise should be given to each film actor, especially Zizan Razak, who gives such good acting that will have viewers in stitches. Praise should be given to Syamsul Yusof as well, who successfully highlighted the good side of acting and managed to inspire the character he portrayed."

Collection

On the first day of the screening, the film managed to collect $496,441.50 (1.5 million).^[5] This figure reached $2,043,172.80 (6.2 million) ^[6] after four days, and then topped the collection chart in Malaysian cinemas on its first weekend (9 to 15 June 2011), to overcome Western films such as Super 8, X-Men: First Class and Kung Fu Panda 2.^[7]

Just after the end of its second week in cinemas, there were rumours that KL Gangster won a total of $3,408,898.30, (10.3 million),^[2] thus surpassing the record of $2,912,456.80 (8.18 million) held by Ngangkung at the end of 2010.^[8]

Controversy

Despite the warm welcome to the visitors of cinema and the film's reviewer, but KL Gangster was not free from objection to some parties, such as the Pekida foundation, who reportedly wanted to sue the director, Syamsul Yusof. Also involved in this case is the film Share, another Malaysian film with a similar theme as KL Gangster and premiered a month earlier. Pekida expressed their disappointment with the Film Censorship Board for approving the films involved.^[9] Although this controversy caused KL Gangster to lose movie buys, the movie eventually won six awards at the Malaysian Film Festival (FFM) and four Blockbuster Awards.

Prequel and spin-off

A prequel titled, KL Gangster 2, was released on 3 October 2013,^[10] with a spin-off titled Abang Long Fadil also releasing on 29 May 2014.

References