It's always a jinx with the 3rd movie. Look at X-Men, with a great first movie, it flop at the third movie. Spiderman (with Tobey Maquire) also started off really well, with a spectacular sequel but flop at the third. Come back to Malaysia, Astro/ MyFM started off their CNY movie really great with "Woo Hoo" and a really touching second movie "Tian tian Hao Tian". Despite being the most polished third movie and technically much more superior one, the third outing "Ah Beng 3 wishes" turned out to be the worst among the three.
My wife called me a Namewee fan. I guess I am. That is why I insist on watching Kara King in the movie. Despite that Hantu Gangster, his second movie was just a so-so attempt. I still believe that he can break the third movie curse. Look at Dark Knight trilogy, all the 3 movies are great in their own ways. Boy, was I wrong.
The story is rather simple, and on paper, should work rather well. Ng Man Tat (from all the Stephen Chow's movies fame) was a global Chinese Kara-oke champion once but went off the grid for 20 years where he came to Kampung Kara (a small local village who was crazed with anything to do with singing; imagine all the uncle and aunties wearing bling-bling clothings everyday) to raise his children. Namewee, his son, became estranged thinking that the father was the cause of the mother going away, grown up to be a rocker. The Taiwanese champion, who once was beaten by Ng, played by Gao-Ling-Feng tracked Ng Man Tat after all these years for a final showdown. Predictable storyline, the climax of the movie was the showdown between Namewee and Gao, with Namewee's family reunited with the mother and prepare for a tear jerking moment.
Now, the storyline appeared like what a Chinese New Year movie would be, family oriented film with a touching finale. Now, I must say that Namewee had matured much in his direction, and I sincerely hope he will pursue this direction further. The preparation for the film was also good, looking at how he change the whole small street into Kampung Kara. However, the script was bit lacking. It ended up being a poor imitation of Stephen Chow's movie. You know the usual exaggerated play with words with a bit of dead pan humour. It did not work here. Similarly, there are a few slap stick moments which felt out of place. And growing up in the same era as Namewee, I felt the same influence of Chow as I see the shadow of some of his movies. The same village with a lot of Sifu with the best one kept in hiding, not known to anyone is similar to the settings of KungFu, which exposed the grandmaster villain came challenging and beaten the rest. The scene when Namewee went and look for his old bandmates for a reunion came out from Shaolin soccer. The humour ended bit dry and forced at times, and some of them felt so cheesy and childish. Somehow it worked if it is Chow's film but did not work here.
I was thinking why the first Namewee film worked so well, the second was ok, but this one turned out like this. My guess was initially Namewee did what he was good at. He poke fun at the community, at the society and himself. Despite having a disjointed and silly storyline, it was really funny as his sarcasm and hidden jokes were all spot-on. Kara King probably has a broader audience, which may still be enjoyed by other audience in other countries but is bit foreign to Namewee himself.
I cant deny that I was bit disappointed. But I do think that Namewee had come a long way, and he had improved at his movie making skills. I sincerely hope that Banglasia, his fourth movie will be better and I will still follow his tokok series on youtube.
ratings: 2 poink!
comments: wife think I still rate too high. ah well, I am Namewee's fan after all. I must say that the theme song was nice when sung at that particular moment in the climax of the movie.
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