Malayhem
Move over Johnson. Watch your back Ma. There could be a new action sheriff in town.
sheriff: Narko Integriti
Director: Syafiq Yusof • Writers: Nazifdin Nasrudin, Syafiq Yusof
Starring: Zul Ariffin, Syafiq Kyle, Aaron Aziz, Elizabeth Tan, Azira Shafinaz, Amir Nafis
Malaysia • 2hrs 15mins
Opens Hong Kong June 6 • IIB
Grade: B-
Wow. Where to begin unpacking Sheriff: Narko Integriti? The post-Ramadan hit at home in Malaysia is one of the few films to cross borders recently – Abang Adik being the other that springs to mind – and if any were to gain serious traction globally it could be this one (though take a minute and seek out Zahir Omar’s excellent 2018 thriller Fly by Night). Director Syafiq Yusof has lifted a lot of stuff from a lot of films and a lot of filmmakers, but there’s an undeniable energy to the proceedings here that make the film eminently watchable despite its police love-in. The frantic and entirely ridiculous plotting of Sheriff recalls peak Hong Kong crime thrillers, star Zul Ariffin was clearly spit out of the same “hulking charmer” factory as Ma Dong-seok and Dwayne Johnson in his Fast Five days, and there’s enough firepower on display to make Michael Bay weep tears of joy. What’s not to love?
Sheriff has one of those crazily convoluted storylines that only happen in the movies. We start with well-dressed (they’re always well dressed), cigar-chomping drug lord Tony Ifrit (Singaporean actor Aaron Aziz) skating right out of a Malaysian courtroom and rubbing it in the faces of all who will watch. Cut to the gruesome murder of a corrupt cop by another cop, Inspector Nazri Mutalib (Syafiq Kyle), a young narc with an axe to grind and a place on the squad trying to take down Ifrit. Finally we meet Sherifuddin Hussein (Zul), an agent from the narcotics section of the Royal Malaysia Police’s Integrity and Standards Compliance Department. He’s internal affairs. And he’s charming a cop on the take right through a plate glass window. The two departments converge when someone (who exactly?) figures the cop killer – AKA Meth Killer for his crime scene signature – is narco police. Overseeing the dual-track investigation is Jennifer Wong (pop star Elizabeth Tan).
Rock on
There’s so much wrong with Sheriff: Narko Integriti, and much of that is what makes the film such a thoroughly zany pleasure, and knowing from jump who the killer is juices an otherwise standard cop thriller. Zul is a compelling screen presence and he’s at ease toggling between goofy shit-disturber and hard-nosed IA crusader, whose past leaves him no patience for those who tarnish the badge. Which comes to a grand total of one, considering there’s not a single cop in the film who’s “bad”. Some do bad things – but for honourable reasons. And in case you forget no one is above the law, Sheriff reminds us that “In Malaysia, even the prime minister goes to jail.” And you know what, props to that. They put Najib Razak in the grey bar hotel long before the Americans even considered it with Donald Trump. Equally amusing as the rah-rah are the OTT performances. There’s lots of tortured face-grabbing and slamming of fists on desks signifying passion, with Kodi Rasheed standing out for sheer volume of sweaty, bug-eyed panic as an army veteran and informant. That interrogation scene? Brilliant. Hilariously, these are some of the worst cops of all time – how can they do their jobs so poorly and stay employed? – with a department head, Nazri’s sister Syazlin (Azira Shafinaz), possessed of the thinnest air of authority ever. Of course, there’s a brutal rape that plays a major part in these men’s motivations (isn’t there always?) to which I say: Enough. Please. And that’s not a Malaysian thing. That’s a movie thing.
But there is a lot that’s right. Again, Zul is a tremendous lead, and he’s matched nicely with Aziz as the maniacal Ifrit. Syafiq doesn’t quite let him off the leash enough to really make him a charismatically, grandiosely vile villain, but Aziz seems to be having fun nonetheless. DOP Rahimi Maidin takes a page from the John Wick franchise, keeping the visuals clean and sharp so we can see the action set pieces and stunts happening within his frames. Above all Sheriff looks like Kuala Lumpur. The RMP is made up of Malays, Chinese, Indians, Muslims and seculars, and it gives the nuttiness a veneer of authenticity. There’s a palpable sense of glee radiating from Sheriff, and an undeniable vibe that Syafiq’s raison d’être was to make holiday time cares-at-the-door entertainment. Is it the second coming of Die Hard? No. It’s too long (we don’t need Sheriff and Ifrit’s throwdown among other flourishes), and one more pass on Syafiq and Nazifdin Nasrudin’s script probably would have helped with internal logic. Whose case is this? What case is it? Sheriff: Narko Integriti ends on a note that suggests Sheriff and his new partner are gunning for the rot embedded in the judiciary in a possible sequel. Which, duh, and yes according to press in Kuala Lumpur and a box office haul 10 times its budget in a few weeks. Sign me up. — DEK