Walid

Unfortunately, the dialogue during the fights is odd. It’s not clear if that reflects cultural differences or a language translation gap, but the taunts and rejoinders seem incredibly mild compared to the murderous intent of the combatants. There’s a lot of talk of people being “rude” when attacking. Yes, if Walid comes at you with double Kapak Siam axes, he’s likely not focused on the proper practice of polite etiquette. The protagonist also delivers the line “Don’t forget to like and subscribe” in a unique fashion, the best way it has ever been said. It is the “I’ll be back” of Walid.

Sharizal described his love for this character in an interview with New Straits Times. “Walid is a character close to my heart as I am a strong opponent of crimes against children. Furthermore, I get to display my Silat skills, which I learned during my school days when I represented the Federal Territories in martial arts competition.”

“…wild, almost feral.”

Bakar’s style is wild, almost feral. He puts the camera in the fight so close that it looks like the viewer is in the middle of it, and he’s not afraid to push and pull zooms to amp up the action even more. It’s crude but effective. The music swings wildly from local Malaysian instruments to thrash metal guitars and back, to track the mood of a scene. There’s also a nice cinematic touch with colors where peaceful moments are sunny, colorful, and beautiful, while the ugliness of child trafficking and the battle at the brick factory are all dark and dull. Another interesting touch is that the antagonist gangsters are almost always smoking, while the good guys are smoke-free. One particular black hat always has a cheroot-style cigarette in his mouth that he sneers his high-pitched taunts around.

Walid is a satisfying tale of good and evil that rolls out some moral instruction on principles, but the icing on the cake is the long-form hand-to-hand Silat fighting that rounds out the film.