Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa Review

Poster for the movie looks prefessional and good design.

This movie released in Malaysia as "Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa". It is an adventure feature film set against the backdrop of ancient Malay, Roman and Chinese civilizations. It tells the tale of the journey of Merong Mahawangsa escorting a Roman prince to wed a beautiful Chinese princess during the 2nd century.

Cast:

Stephen Rahman Hughes, Deborah Henry, Umie Aida, Mano Maniam, Gavin Stenhouse, Nell Ng

Although I don't think it is a nice movie but I still like it because not much opportunity for Malaysian to watch Malaysia history on the big screen and we will be excited and surprise when have the opportunity. Besides, the visual effects and scenes setting inside the movie are quite good for local movie. Those awesome battle scenes also made the movie better and the audiences will pay more attention to the movie.

I don't think the history in the movie is right. I don't even know that Rome and China had a diplomatic relationship and not really sure who is Merong Mahawangsa. This is the only part that I don't like for the movie.

Also the story was a bit too rush. They never explain what the relationship between Embok and Merong, then all of the sudden, the narrator (the Sultan) came out and said that Embok was pregnant with Merong's baby. They never explain why Prince Marcus Caprenius still alive? How the the Chinese Admiral Liu Yun found Prince Marcus Caprenius and Merong? The movie should explain the stories more clearly.

What is wrong with speaking proper English? Why is there so many broken English in this movie? You see, games like God of War depicted ancient Greece, but with characters speaking proper English, and I didn't see any problem with it, so I really don't understand why should the actor use broken English instead of proper English.

Merong Mahawangsa, Stephen Rahman Hughes acts as this guy in the movie. He is my favourite character in the movie. He is a hero in the movie, everyone likes hero. The movie has describe Merong in very good way. Buff body, brilliant, brave and good looking. Claiming to be a descendant from Alexander the Great, but he doesn't look that much descended from King Alexander doesn't he? Can't say much about him though. In the end he did become a king. I'm not sure what the original "Hikayat" says but Stephen here portrayed his character well in this movie.