Virgo & The Sparklings Film Review: Fresh From Bumilangit!

Virgo & The Sparklings poster (Screenplay Films)

JAKARTA - Bumilangit Cinematic Universe continues with a third film titled Virgo & The Sparklings. Directed by Ody Harahap, this film is one of the first appearances by Patriot Taruna, starring Adhisty Zara.

Different from the two previous films, Virgo & The Sparklings appear more cheerful in terms of color tones and nuances. The story is also still related to teenage stories that are dominated by friendship, family, and romance.

Apart from Zara, this film stars Satine Zaneta, Ashira Zamita, Rebecca Klooper, Maudy Efrosina, Irgi Fahrezi, Aida Nurmala, Widi Mulia, Bryan Domani, Mawar de Jongh, Indah Kusuma, and many others.

Virgo & The Sparklings tells of Riani (Adhisty Zara), a high school girl who has the power of fire. As she grew up, Riani couldn't control her powers which caused problems in her daily life.

At one time, Riani moved to a new school and caught the attention of Ussy (Satine Zaneta), Monica (Ashira Zamita), and Sasmi (Rebecca Klooper) because of one incident. Ussy, Monica, and Sasmi then asked Riani to join their band.

They form a band called The Virgos and try to enter the Stardom competition. The four of them idolize the Scorpion Sisters, the band fronted by Carmine (Mawar de Jongh).

On the other hand, Riani found that many teenagers started to be possessed because of a phenomenon. Riani, who is busy with the band, is also a healer trying to save the victims who brought conflict between The Virgos.

Will Riani choose to save all the teenagers or focus on The Virgos?

The story is light and easy to watch. With this simple premise, Virgo & The Sparklings is quite entertaining. Starting from the action of conflict between students to cliches falling in love in the rain can also be enjoyed.

But this story feels half-hearted. The story of the main character, Riani, is not explored deeply. As a result, many viewers questioned the origin of the super hero's power. Different from Sri Asih and Gundala that showed this momentum.

From a teenager's standpoint, this issue is interesting, it involves a lot of the parental side - but that side is not explored even though the main theme can connect with the story of the villain.

When compared to the villains, Riani doesn't seem to stand out. It's not known yet whether it's because Riani wants to be photographed as an ordinary human being. However, the action of the superhero is not pretentious and purely decorative, as if the film would not change if Riani's character was changed to Ussy or Monica, or Sasmi.

In one scene, Riani mentions that her power can distinguish other people's feelings from their color. It's a shame that the dialogue was not accompanied by evidence that might add to Riani's superhero impression.

Despite the weak superhero characterizations, Riani is even more interesting when she appears with friends of The Virgos. Their chemistry as friends and bandmates kept the audience entertained.

However, between those moments, we really enjoyed Ashira Zamita's acting as Monica. With her comedic side and outspokenness, Monica appears with extraordinary charisma not only when she is having a dialogue but also when she is beating her drums.

The series of songs chosen are also very suitable for Virgo & The Sparklings. Sahabat Angin, which is the theme song, is a perfect accompaniment to the storyline of this film. Not to mention they sing Salah from Potret at the start of the storytelling of The Virgos.

The action of the cast is not as heroic as the CGI that performs well. Apart from that, Virgo & The Sparklings can still be enjoyed considering that the superhero genre is still common in the Indonesian film industry.

The presence of Virgo & The Sparklings is something fresh, not only in Bumilangit but also in the film industry. The lack of a teenage story that focuses on ideals and identity is what makes Virgo & The Sparklings worth watching on the big screen.

The film Virgo & The Sparklings will be aired starting today, Thursday, 2 February on all Indonesian cinema networks.