IT must have seemed like a good idea to produce a film based on a popular TV show on Malaysia’s TV3 station.  The idea of focusing on angry juveniles is nothing new. I suppose filmmakers are attracted to emotional young men fighting with each other and hitting out at everyone who comes close to them.

However, director Faisal Ishak’s Juvana is a terrible film that will put you to sleep (I did) and coupled with the film’s bad direction, acting, sound and lighting, viewers will get an incoherent film that’s devoid of emotion but full of teens shouting.

Viewers won’t care for the film characters, who are posers hanging out in the sun. If this is the film’s idea of giving hope to juvenile delinquents out there, then viewers had better watch out. 

Why does a teen, Daim (Zahiril Adzim), released from a juvenile detention centre after being acquitted of killing his mother, carry Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo in his new secondary school?

The book’s protagonist is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail and seeks to exact revenge on those who sent him to jail.

I’d understood it if Daim had read the Malay version of the book at the centre, where its themes of hope and justice would have resonated strongly with him. But to brandish the book in his new school is just plain silly of him.

Firstly, he doesn’t speak a word of English in the film. Secondly, the significance of the book is lost on Malay audiences. The school bully in the film can’t even pronounce the book’s title. Would he have understood the book’s meaning?

The book, strangely, makes an impact on pretty student Sara (Shera Ayob), who can pronounce the title, but I doubt that even she would have understood the book. Neither she nor Daim talks about the book. Instead, they discuss a math problem.

Daim’s friends at the centre — Botak (Johan Asari), Apek (Syazwan Zulkifli), Ayam (Adam Shah), Komeng (Khairul Mohamed) and Kicap (Megat Faizal Faiz Megat Razak) — are transferred to another centre, where their presence is not welcomed by the inmates, especially head thug Lan Todak (Sharnaaz Ahmad), who talks with a sneer.

The film is about giving juvenile delinquents a second chance in life, and society’s reluctance to do just that. The film’s message is sound but its delivery is terrible.

Viewers don’t care about the travails of these spoiled brats. None of them stands out. The only thing that does is their bad acting.

The chief guard of the new centre comes from the mould of film prison guards. He’s loud, tough and doesn’t tolerate nonsense.

So, it’s surprise when he reveals that he’s a former delinquent. Viewers won’t accept this revelation. He proceeds to give Botak a long lecture on why the latter sees everyone as an enemy. “You’re fighting ghosts in yourself.” Gosh, such stimulating dialogue.

Also, an inmate breaks down because he could not visit his mum before she died.  His sobs won’t affect viewers.

Juvana is in the running for the worst Malaysian film of the year, and it’s only January …..