Titisan Si Pitung (1989) Movie Review, Film Still and Poster

Indonesia 1989
Director: Tommy Burnama
Cast: George Rudy, Suci Leonita, Rachmat Kartolo, Johnny Indo, W.D. Mochtar, Syamsuri Kaempuan
Rating: Dewasa (Adult)
Language: Bahasa Indonesia; Betawi
VCD Quality: Poor/Decent/Excellent
Release Date: 1989; 22 November 2007 (VCD)
Running Length: 1 hour 13 minutes 42 seconds

The Movie Review

Titisan si Pitung film still 1


TITISAN Si PITUNG ( Incarnation of Pitung )
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

As long as there are slavery and evil, there will always be heroes summoned to fight them. As cliché as it may sounds, that's the fact and that's also what makes action or epic movies keep on rolling to the cinemas and to video stores near you. This time our classic Indonesian movie is about a Betawinese hero named Ramdani, the one that is called as "The next Pitung", recalling the title that in English would be "Incarnation of Pitung". Ramdani is just an ordinary local young man with a heart of gold and guts of a bull. We know this fact when Ramdani (George Rudy) encounters the local thugs who are robbing the villagers and forcing them to pay tribute. Lead by Mandor Darip (Jeffry Sani), these thugs are the loyal henchmen of the local a-hole Juragan Japat (W.D. Mochtar).

At first, Ramdani is helping the villagers out of responsibility as a good Moslem. But then, things shift to be very personal when a Netherlands rank officer named Hans (Johny Indo) begins to harass Ramdani's relative Mpok Cicih, moreover Hans' friend Juragan Japat schemes to make Ramdani's love interest, Mumun (Suci Leonita) to be his wife. Certainly no hero would lie on their back while their girl is kidnapped, so Ramdani along with Mumun's brother, Murat (Eddy Riwanto) storm the place where Mumun is held captive. But things may not seem as easy as it looks since the place belongs to an evil landlord, Babah Liong (Syamsuri Kaempuan) who is also adept in martial arts and is on hand to make sure Ramdani meet his Maker as soon as possible. Could Ramdani make it on time? Moreover, could he lives up to Bang Pitung's legend?

I admit that I didn't get the chance to see this movie back then. So upon seeing Titisan si Pitung I was actually hoping to get another great action/martial arts film of Indonesian heroes. But unfortunately its plot is strikingly similar to the second entry in Pitung franchise, Banteng Betawi (1971), with all the kidnapping and the love sparks between our hero and his love interest, and the following raping scheme. Those are nothing of my concern if...the pace is not a bore, but this movie surely has aged. I'm positive that if it was viewed back in the early 90s, then the editing wouldn't be too much of a trouble, but today the pace is pretty much a drag and a chore to sit through.

However, not everything is a copy-paste method in this movie, there is a difference, but sadly that difference just makes it even worse. Unlike Pitung, Ramdani is way too cool for a person that has to deal with such problem. He is probably portrayed to be more pious than Pitung, but that doesn't justify that his character should be left without a single bit of exciting trait. At least in the Pitung's original movies, we could hear Betawinese curse words, what I'm saying is while I like Ramdani being scripted as a Pious young man, but why didn't the filmmakers at least assign one or two friends of Ramdani to spit out agitated curse words, thus giving the sense of realism in this film. George Rudy is a great Indonesian actor alright, but he could not outshine Dicky Zulkarnaen's charm as bang Pitung. And the chemistry is lost between George Rudy and Suci Leonita. Although the performance of the leading actors and actresses are good and the supporting cast's acting quality is luckily decent. The biggest acclaim of course goes to W.D. Mochtar, he delivers convincing performance as the main antagonist. And it's nice to see Mpok Nori team up with Haji Nasir even though they only appear as cameos, with Mpok Nori as the first dancer in Gambang Kromong event (blink-and-you-miss scene) and Haji Nasir as Japat's assistant.

Titisan si Pitung is an action/epic movie, so it's a matter of certainty to expect for some intense fighting scenes. No, so sorry, while the fighting scenes are far from being lame but to say that they are intense, would be too strong a word. Plus the visual effects are as dated as heck, they aren't impressive. And it's even more unimpressive if you have seen (and still remember) the visuals employed in Saur Sepuh movies. But the biggest flaw comes from the ending. You know, it could be still forgivable if it's shocking, or in this case has a twist in it, but the finale fight is much more lame then the fights between Dani (or other good fighters) against the bad ones. I even notice that Ramdani is circling around up in the air doing his fighting moves using...Fireworks! Oh my, this surely is chuckle-inducing, it strikes my memory remembering when I was a kid we used to circle around in the neighbourhood with fireworks. But I'm just too tired to laugh after fighting myself to stifle a yawn.

Plot holes do exist, but the Enormous one comes from the most pivotal part from the movie, we never know how Ramdani ever get to learn his new skill which makes him undefeatable and how he ever got a hold of the new talisman that makes him bulletproof. All we got is a sudden "Poof"! He's here, he's back from the dead and he's much stronger than ever before. But how?

Titisan si Pitung, sadly to inform, still could not defeat the quality of the original Pitung movies and you might notice that the quality of the video is so poor that you need too adjust the brightness/contrast level quite meticulously, plus the sound hisses almost all the time. However, as a spin-off, completists may want to give this action movie a spin.

* Page 2 : Titisan Si Pitung Complete Credits

* Page 3 : Titisan Si Pitung Mini Trivia

* Page 4 : Titisan Si Pitung Memorable Quotes