Cicak-man 2

Cicak-man 2 is one of the selected movies for this project. In Cicak-man 2, there are several scenes and techniques can been found which seem similar to some of the Hollywood heroic movie especially Spiderman, Batman and Superman. Besides that, there are also some similar points can be found in the other genre movies such as Science-Fiction movie Volcano and Drama genre movie, Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock.

Firstly, Cicakman 2 is the first Malaysia film of comedy-superhero film which directed by KRU Member Yusry. It features almost 40% of CGI footage. Yusry mapped the visual effects while shooting the film to simplify the production process and cut the cost. There is a total of 400 CGI (computer graphic imagery) shots of Metrofulus city and character animation for Cicak-man 2 make up the film, totalling the special effects to 40%.  

The theme of Cicakman 2 is similar with the typical heroic Hollywood films such as Spiderman, Batman and Superman which is superhero save the society from harm and loves one. Cicakman 2 revolves around an ordinary man turns into a superhero that has special power in sudden. Then, he uses his super power to save the world from criminals and kill the bad characters in movie.

Footages of Cicakman 2 are filmed in blue screen or green screen effect. It is also known as Chrome Key Effect. The first blue screen effect in cinema was employed in the production of The Old Man and the Sea Hollywood film which had been produced on 1958 and directed by John Struges. It is very obvious that Cicakman 2 has been influenced by the Hollywood as Yusry uses Green Screen effect just like how John Struges used it in the movie.

Cicak-man 2 places its setting in a city named Metrofulus. Even though Cicak-man is a Malay movie, it contains some other languages such as very little amount of English, Japanese, Afrikaans and some other dialects such as Cantonese. Metrofulus has a very strong feeling of Western. From the city, alleys and the room of Hairi, the male lead of Cicak-man 2, they all look much alike with the settings of Spiderman.

For the characters of Cicakman 2, it also has some likeness with Spiderman’s character. In Spiderman (2002), Tobey Maguire is portrayed as a shy and nerdy guy. In Cicak-man 2, Hairi also has been portrayed as a shy and nerdy guy. Both of them has the same personality that when they face their crush, they look shy. They will be panic and get nervous when talk to their crush just like how Hairi faces Tania and Peter faces Jane in the movie.

Besides that, for the costumes of the movies, Cicak-man 2 also has something in common with Spiderman.  The costume of Cicak-man 2 is fully red and Spiderman has red and blue costumes. The costumes they wear are flexible, tight and fit to their body. Besides that, they also have to change their costumes when they transform to the superheroes as the clothes is not attached to their body all the time.

Not only for the main character, there are some other characters in Cicak-man 2 such as passers also wear thick clothes with coats, sweater, scarf and hoodie, These costumes are hardly can been seen in Malaysia local film because Malaysia an tropical climate. It does not have four seasons. The uniform of Police in Cicak-man 2 is also different from the typical police uniform in Malaysia. In Cicak-man 2, it goes against Malaysia’s clothing norms and imitates Western cultures. It is clearly shown that Malaysia’s filming cultures have been influenced by Hollywood.

Cicak-man 2 has lots of scenes that use slow motion and fast motion. The most typical one would be when Cicak-man 2 travels from a building to another building in the city. The footages can be said exactly the same as in Spiderman. As for slow motion, in Cicak-man 2, there is a scene when Rhama fights with the followers of Bakar in Bakar’s house. The slow motion starts when Rhama climbs on a crystal light and shakes it, the crystals start to fall and hit on the followers. Spiderman also uses slow motion in the movie. It happens when Jane talks to Peter in a coffee house and suddenly a car is thrown into the shop from outside of the coffee shop. When the car flies in, the slow motion starts. By using fast and slow motion in the movie, it helps to stimulate the audiences’ excitement.

Beside fast motion and slow motion, Cicak-man 2 also uses another effect when the subject is moving with normal speed and the background is changing in a very fast speed. This often occurs when Rhama rides her bike in Cicak-man 2. Yusry apply the same technique into Rhama from Hollywood movie, Batman (1989). When Batman drives his car in fast speed, the same effect is applied.

Exploding scene also can be found in found in the movie of Cicak-man 2. It happens when Rhama places a bomb on Bakar’s body and the bomb is blown up then the house explodes. In the Hollywood movie Independence Day 1996, we can see the similar plot happens when the White House explodes. There is a shot taken near to the building when it explodes.

In Cicak-man 2, Yusry has applied Shot Reverse Shot technique when the characters are having conversation. When Hairi is having an interview with the boss of Tania for job, shot reverse shot is seen. In Vertigo (1958), there is also Shot Reverse Shot can be found when Scottie talks to Judy.

Furthermore, there are low angle shots had been shot in Cicak-man 2. It applies the same in Spiderman as well as Superman. It is shot when the main characters stand or squat. It makes the subject look more dramatic, gives the person an aura or authority, eliminates unwanted background elements or separates the subject from the background, dramatizes a point of view, heightens the sense of size and speed.

Besides that, in Cicak-man 2, there is also a scene which shot from high angle to show the location by shooting the water dam and the cave –Professor Klon’s living place. It reveals the name of the place –Empangan Metrofulus (Metrofulus Water Dam). Besides, there is also a fighting scene between Rhama and Cicak-man, Cicak-man is about to fall into a deep hole. In Volcano, there is also a scene where Gator is also falling into the volcano when the volcano is about to bomb. The techniques used in these movies are the same. The technique is shot from high and tilt downwards to show the depth or height of the place to the ground or perhaps infinity ground. By using high angle shooting, it makes a person look inferior, gives superiority to the viewers, shows the relationship of the various elements in the scenes, gives a sense of the geographical layout and shows action in greater spatial depth. It works as revealing the geographical layout.

Cicak-man 2 also portrays some scenes that being portrayed in Volcano (1997). In the movie of Volcano, it shows earthquake. Cicak-man 2 also has shaking scene where the laboratory of Professor Klon is almost blown up, the camera shakes and it creates the mood for audiences to make them feel like they are having earthquake. In this shot, the cameraman is shooting the scene by handholding the camera as handholding camera is able to move fluidly through the location and even the action. It also can convey better mood compared to still camera.

There are some scenes in Cicak-man 2 is shot in close up shot by defocusing the background. For example, When Hairi touches the crystal rock in Chee Feng Shui, Hairi and the crystal rock is focused and the background is blurry. This helps to remain the subject in background mystery and audiences will pay more focus on the subject because of the whole frame is in deep focus, the audiences might get distracted by the background. The situation will be worse if the background colour is too attractive as in colourful or moving objects behind the subject. We can easily get this shot in any genre of movies. In Rocky (1976), it has implemented many similar shots in it.

From all the points above, they all show that Cicak-man 2 is deeply influenced by many Hollywood movies especially superheroes movies such as Spiderman.  It is undeniable that Hollywood has very powerful impact to Third World Cinema.