Movie Title - Ah Boys to Men 3: Frogmen

Genre:   +   (Why do I have the feeling that this genre combination will still appear in the future?)

Synopsis: I think, this is the first time that a local movie delves into an "alternate reality/parallel universe" plot? You have to give credit to Jack Neo and the screenwriter for that.

Yes, the story begins with a "What if the Ah Boys did not go through BMT in Tekong but instead, were directly enlisted as Frogmen in NDU?" A convenient way to start afresh eh? (Just do not reuse this again if you guys decide on filming ABTM4: Commando/Pilot/Military Police, be more creative okay?)

ABTM3 is a film that depicts the training of Naval Divers, where they were trained in once a highly-restricted Sembawang Camp. Touted as one of the toughest army training in Singapore and only the fittest will be picked for a chance at this elite military vocation, how will the group of "Ah Boys" survive in this alternate NDU universe? 

Review: Ken Chow (played by Joshua Tan) gets dumped by his girlfriend, again, in this alternate universe *inserts Gwang Soo music*. Some people, no matter which universe they exist in, suffers from the same kind of fate. His character is one which will irritate everyone with his childish and immature actions, and without a big enough plotline to juxtapose his change of character from bad to good, he remains unlikeable till the end of the movie. Poor Joshua. 

However, there are two star actors in this film which made the film that much more enjoyable with their solid acting. The first one is Weiliang (王伟良), and the second one is Justin.



I am now an official fan of Weiliang. He impressed the Evilbean in The Lion Men with his acting, and in ABTM3, he delights everyone again in his portrayal of Lobang King. I felt that the highlight of the film was the Act where he secretly AWOL from camp in order to save his sister from his abusive, drug-addicted mother. 

We first get to experience that pent-up frustration and that sense of loss when he was unable to get out of camp. You could actually hear some sighs from the audience when #2 rejected his request to book out. And then, our hearts start to beat and cheer along for Lobang as he decides to take the very unconventional way to get out of the camp. 

As we start to make sense of what is happening, we can slowly feel that our heart is being wrenched and twisted by an invisible hand -  the overflowing emotions of confusion, exasperation and helplessness as Lobang collapses on his knees while deciding what to do with his mother. That is some excellent writing from the screenwriter, because everyone started bawling their eyes out, including me. If you want to experience what is called an emotional rollercoaster, I ensure you that this act will make you feel a range of emotions within 15 minutes. 

If you are trying to impress your date, you can also test your "manliness" in front of her by trying not to cry in this Act. (Although, if you know girls, they might think you are a man without feelings instead of a manly man. To cry or not to cry??)

If you were wondering if there is actually this myth about #2 in NDU, the answer is no. There is no such myth floating around in NDU.

However, there are various facts and details which the writers and the director have gotten right. Firstly, if you thought that the scene in the toilet, where everyone is crammed into a cubicle to get some sleep was ridiculously fake, IT IS NOT. This is a very real portrayal of what the trainee goes through during Hellweek. The 30 minutes toilet break is the only time in the day where they are allowed to shit and pee. However, as most of them are simply too tired, they are unable to process anything anymore and all they care about is to have some precious shut-eye.

During Hellweek, everyone is literally covered in pee, which one ex-diver described as a "sensory overload experience". Trainees are soaked to the bone during the 5 days of Hellweek, which means they are cold. When you feel cold, you would wanna pee. Coupled with the fact that you are sleep-deprived, you will just unload your bladders without thinking. Therefore, the scene which trainees are treated to the ice-water spa and one of them uncontrollably "laosai" in the boat is very real. Being one of the people who prefers to get burned to death rather than frozen to death, I shudder at the thought of that Ice-Water Spa. What is worst is that your Sergeants and Warrant Officers are the ones "servicing" you OH GOD THAT IMAGE.

Clever writing and editing ensured that the pacing of the movie was just nice, therefore, most of us did not even realise that the movie is almost 2 1/2 hours long. Movie makers finally realise that there is no need to go into unnecessary detail for everything; instead of trying to cover everything, ABTM3 decides to go in depth in developing their characters. This is the perfect formula for a good movie - a good story with convincing, memorable characters. I mean, a show of hands who thought that Warrant Lum aka #2 is a REAL NDU regular playing as himself?



Stay back for: A couple of NG scenes, one of which is the forgetful ahma/auntie who keeps saying... "Auntie".

Movie Trivia: There are a couple of trivia about ABTM3 which you might be interested in:


1. Warrant Officer BT Lum (a.k.a. Botak Lum and No. 2 in the movie) actually collapsed halfway during filming due to some sort of heat injury. Uh, still wanna challenge other people somemore?



2. The screenplay for ABTM3 is written by Ivan Ho (夏友庆), and he is actually a big fan of Hongkong comics. He hid several HK comic easter eggs in the movie.

3. Shek Hak Long, the new Hongkong guy in the movie, is inspired by a character in a HK comic called 龍虎門, where he is also a fiery gangster who turned good in the end.



4. The line uttered by Hei Long during the fortune telling scene: "命犯天煞孤星，注定无伴终老，孤独一生" is actually the fate of a character in a HK comic called: "中華英雄".



5. One of the major plot-twist - the sudden Kungfu displayed by Aloysius Jin (played by Maxi Lim) is actually the same kungfu style of Bruce Lee. Although many were taken by surprise on his kungfu prowess, there were actually TWO scenes which hinted that Aloysius actually knows Kungfu. I only know of one - the scene where he was pretending to read the "Dummy's Guide to Kungfu" while keeping a lookout for his cabin mates. 

I have no idea which is the other scene that hinted on his kungfu skills? Did you notice it? If you did, please do share with the Evilbean by commenting below so that I can add to this list! Thank you!



Movie Rating (out of 5 Evilbeans):

  (4)


And here's a random shot of my supper after catching ABTM3, my favourite Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice!

Yesterday's late night supper at my favorite Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice after Ah Boys to Frogmen. Their rice is so fragrant, I can eat it on its own! Special shoutout to their egg omelette - loaded with big prawns and a runny, cheesy texture! ABTM3 was pretty good as well, stellar performance from Lobang King! The emotional scene with his mum is just 👍 #ABTM3 - #4evilbeans #BoonTongKee - #4point5evilbeans

A photo posted by Joey Ching How (@evilbean) on Feb 21, 2015 at 9:59pm PST