Magik Rompak Review: Tay Ping Hui Is The Villain In Malaysia’s Now You See Me-Inspired Heist Of Tricks & Twists

Magik Rompak (PG13)

Starring Zul Ariffin, Sharnaaz Ahmad, Amelia Henderson, Nadhir Nasar, Tay Ping Hui, Miller Khan

Directed by Adrian Teh

The magician, Hadi aka The Great Hadini (Blood Brothers: Bara Naga’s Sharnaaz Ahmad), in this Malaysian gem-heist pic can make things vanish.

Problem is, he can’t make time disappear.

Magik Rompak is light-heartedly entertaining, likeable and jaunty as a poor man’s version of a dupe-the-rich-man caper romp. Meaning, there’s more drama than razzle dazzle — people really talk a lot here — since it doesn’t have Now You See Me production moolah. Even its object of desire — a multi-million dollar necklace called “Heart Of Kesuma” — looks kinda cheapo.

Despite its breezy music, this magic-tricks flick with a winsome cast and a lousy stopwatch clocks in at over two hours, and feels longer. As though a weight, sorry, sleight of hand keeps stretching the abracada-blah.

That hand is Malaysian director/co-writer Adrian Teh, previously so tight with Malbatt: Misi Bakara, Malaysia’s side of the Black Hawk Down story. But too long-winded here.

He seems unsure exactly when to end his tale. Feeling maybe the need to pound more action and oomph by inserting a snazzy cars-motorbikes chase and a silly, superfluous fight finale where Hadi flings playing cards like X-Men's Gambit.

The conjurer teams up, amusingly and tenuously, with a trio of do-gooder expert thieves, dubbed “Night Spark”, to switch and steal the said precious rock belonging to a no-good rich dude and solitary Singaporean cast member, Tay Ping Hui, as Tan Sri Hamdan. He also happens to be the grumpy white-haired head of a vile organ harvesting syndicate.

Man, these jiuhu folks must really hate our opulence.

Hadi needs to pinch the necklace to pay debts. The burglar crew wanna bring down the heartless bastard owing to past grief which turned them all into orphans. Their joining of forces is on-off iffy due to mistrust and Hadi's roguish conman twinkle.

Quick aside. Hamdan’s tai-tai wife tells him about a Malay proverb that says “If you're always angry, you'll get older faster.” Which is hilarious because Tay acts so rigidly glum and uptight throughout compared to everybody's fun play, he seems to be in a different movie all on his own. What? He didn't get the memo?

Safecracking genius Rafiq (Sheriff’s Zul Ariffin) leads his pals, computer hacker Wawa (Amelia Henderson), and Ujang (Nadhir Nasar), a Mission Impossible-style fake-face impersonator and comic relief.

The great thing is the chemistry among the Funtastic Four. Especially the pairing of Ariffin and Ahmad who size each other up to test trustworthiness and charismatic beards. The former downplays his familiar tough-guy persona while the latter curbs his anti-hero vibe for a merry bromance together.

They look alike. So I’ll help you out. Ahmad, with his porkpie hat, is ready for The French Connection: KL Edition.

Okay. The most fun here is, of course, the interplay among the pilferers as they devise a plan to break into the ubiquitous unbreakable vault to set up their diamond switcheroo in the middle of a major magic show. Could be director Teh has studied the chirpy Hudson Hawk for a funny sequence involving Rafiq and Ujang stuck in the vault, urgent passcodes, alarm countdowns, a hurried discussion about marriage, and a double-crossing baddie, Sean, who’s really well played by Miller Khan (The Bridge).

“We are young and cute, we should not go to jail,” Rafiq exclaims.

But Teh also twists and turns his heist deal into something so elaborate and cockamamie as to confound even true magicians.

What idiot would allow a trickster’s exact replica box to be placed next to the real thing containing the real gem right inside a heavily guarded vault?

Oh well. Illusion is delusion is mollification, right?

“Magic is about the audience's mind,” explains The Great Hadini.

Now, if you don't mind the time, he and his nice gang of thieves here conjure up quite good company. (3/5 stars) on Netflix

Photo: GV Pictures, Clover Films