Review: 'Lagenda Budak Setan 3: Kasyah'

The word 'legend' according to our friendly cyber neighbourhood Wikipedia means a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Notice the part when it says to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude?

Today's subject is the latest movie from Tarantella Pictures titled 'Lagenda Bukan Setan 3 (Kasyah)' (sounds like quite a handful), a tale about the love and life of a so-called legendary notorious young man Kasyah. It's quite hard to describe what the story is all about. Not that the storytelling technique is revolutionary but more like there's no story, none whatsoever. The worst part is that there is nothing in the movie that shows the 'legendary' character possessing certain qualities that give this particular tale verisimilitude.

It's actually about a pseudo-legendary man who can't make up his mind and consistently running away from problems. This 'legend' is more like a milksop to me, which will make me, hate him more resulting in the lost of interest to follow the rest of the story. LBS3 is supposed to be the final part of a movie trilogy based from a novel written by Ahadiat Akashah. It is actually a third part that the series can do without.

The main character Kasyah (played by a clueless looking Farid Kamil) decided to marry his girlfriend Kate (Maya Karin in a ridiculous wig). The trouble begins when the past comes back to haunt them in the form of Kate's ex-husband Sham (played by Bront Palarae) a cartoonish psychotic character that made us miss Anthony Hopkins' version of Hannibal Lecter. And Zahirah, a nutcase played by Ayu Raudah who is married to another nutcase that is not even worth mentioning.

The problem with the character Sham is that he was released from a mental institution after the doctor decided he is cured. Then we have a scene in his room at the mental institution with the wall full of writings that clearly shows his psychotic obsession towards his ex-wife. Either the doctor is lazy or the director doesn't understand the concept of being mentally cured. These nutcases are conveniently placed into the storyline to create unnecessary conflicts for the main characters. This is what I would commonly refer to as lazy storytelling.

Speaking of legend, if you refer to movies made about other legends like Mel Gibson's William Wallace in Braveheart who became who he is after the death of his wife, Russel Crowe's Maximus in Gladiator who became a legend after the murder of his wife and son, or even Gandhi when as a young lawyer in South Africa discovered the ugliness of apartheid. In the case of Kasyah, he became a good man after putting a house lizard into the soda can of Ayu, a college girl who almost choked to death. A house lizard? How legendary is that?

The dialogue is terrible; there is a scene towards the end of the movie when Kate's father (played by Zack Kool) tells her that Kasyah has gone to a faraway place. When Kate asks where, he (the father) answers Indonesia. Now that is funny. I guess the storytelling team haven't heard of an invention called aeroplane, and the extension of that invention called AirAsia, Firefly and many more. That faraway place called Indonesia is only two hours away. It's not really Timbuktu.

The title Lagenda Budak Setan 3 seems inappropriate since there is nothing legendary about the main character. The title of the movie should either be 'Budak' or 'Setan'. Personally I would prefer the former. Like I said earlier, it is a movie that we all can do without.