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Thursday, July 1, 2010

Never give up. Never surrender (bloody fist)

So egyptian action movies have been famous with subpar action scenes that could only be described as a good attempt, with the exception of a couple of good ones.
On the other hand comedy is usually where we excel, yes there are fiascos that still happen to be funny but overall egyptian sense of humor is pretty much epic.
Now the mixing of both has always been a tricky situation, either you get the serious action hero with the comedic sidekick that has lame jokes that could be potentially funny (ala ahmed el sakka movies) or the suae charming action hero that has a couple of lines that are funny. And then there are comedy movies that throw in an action scene in the end just to serve a paper thin plot. And there's always mamdouh farag's masterpiece (not) 3al2et moot.
Now in comes ahmed mekki, a creator and an actor that has had hits over the past couple of years that are unrivalled in humor.
He approaches the action comedy genre in a different manner, rather than taking himself too seriously with a plot that would otherwise be described as cliched and overused he emphasizes that point starting with the movie title itself and keeps poking fun at the script itself and the actors overact in some parts just to make sure you don't take them that seriously (and I assumed that was intentional because I know they CAN act)
The movie has a simple plot government agency wants to capture a druglord his right hand man dies, the police find a doppleganger to plant within the organization, throw in a love interest and you got a story going. Now make the doppleganger a funny accent and mannerisms and you have katkoot a failed mohamed saad movie from 4 years ago (which they mention in the movie btw along with a couple of the plethora of movies that used that theme) but add in mekki and co's acting and ingenuity and you have a great movie.
In touch with modern day pop culture and blending it in with the movie perfectly (as they are famous for) as well as a very cleverly funny script.
The movie falls into the trap of being divided into the funny part and the action part but other than that it stays fresh with the comedy though, the first half of the film is nonstop laughter that is so loud the ground will shake, the action is still subpar yet there are some impressive feats, key word impressive not awestruckingly micheal bay but then again production value here is low anyway.
An enjoyable movie overall and it has a ninja, so that's always good. Hilariously funny and a great take on the cliche that kills it to death. An avid movie goer will love the the references to older movies and type cast actors in egyptian cinema (ala tarantino name dropping)
I enjoyed it immensly. Another point of view from a friend that was with me was that he found it hard to follow the lead due to the selected accent and voice, which made it hard for him to identify. So be on the look out for being alienated for some of the references unless you are really up to date with all the egyptian pop culture.

A must see nontheless, it is probably the best comedy hit this summer from the looks of it.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

1 comment:

  1. Hands down, the funniest movie this summer, it actually get funnier the longer I thought about it (It's been a week since I saw it). Must watch again soon.

    So time to shamelessly toot my own horn, but in case you didn't read my review check it out dude.
    http://www.cairo360.com/article/638/la-tarago-wa-la-estislam-an-unlikely-hero/

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