Ah Boys to Men
Ah Boys to Men is a 2012 Singaporean Christmas Day military comedy film produced and directed by Jack Neo, written by Neo and Link Sng. It stars Joshua Tan, Maxi Lim, Noah Yap, Wang Weiliang, Ridhwan Azman, Aizuddiin Nasser, Charlie Goh and Tosh Zhang in the first installment. The main plot revolves around a group of army recruits in National service in Singapore. Neo had wanted to shoot an army-themed film since his army days, but could not find a suitable chance to do so. This film is also the first local film to be released in two parts and the first to film in Pulau Tekong, as well as the first South-East Asian film to feature Dolby Atmos surround sound. The film's theme song, "Recruits' Anthem" was written and composed by one of the cast, Tosh Zhang.
The film was released on 8 November 2012. It is the highest-grossing Singaporean film of all time, and has grossed over four times its S$3 million budget. Maxi Lim, Noah Yap, Wang Weiliang, Tosh Zhang, Charlie Goh and Chen Tianwen would later collaborate again in Neo's next project movie based on lion dance known as The Lion Men and The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown.
Plot
The film opens with Singapore apparently suffering a massive invasion, with iconic Singaporean landmarks attacked and numerous civilian casualties. It is later revealed that the war is the fictitious setting of a war-based role-playing game played by Ken Chow, a rich and spoiled teenager reluctant to be conscripted into National Service. Ken planned to study abroad with his girlfriend Amy, but is prevented from doing so by his upcoming compulsory military service. After being chided by Amy for his childishness, Ken vents his anger on a nearby rubbish bin, only to be apprehended by two nearby policemen to Amy's embarrassment and dismay.After he is driven home by his father, Ken confides to his parents about his fears of NS. His overprotective mother decides to help him think of ways to defer his service, but fails. The Chow family sadly sends off Ken on the day of his recruitment. Thereafter, Ken and some other recruits are assigned to Ninja Company, sent to their bunk and then introduced to their Platoon Sergeant. Whilst queueing up for the mandatory haircut, Ken meets some of his fellow recruits - "Lobang", a charismatic Ah Beng who's quick to make friends, Aloysius Jin Sia-lan, an extremely educated fellow who intends to become an army officer and "I.P. Man", an Ah Beng scared of his girlfriend Mayoki dumping him for being too busy serving NS. Most of the recruits are shown to make simple and goofy mistakes in their initial training.
After two weeks of training, Ken and the other recruits are allowed to book out for the first time. A lavish party is thrown by his family to celebrate Ken's return, but his mood is ruined when he is shown a photo of his girlfriend with another man. Ken angrily confronts her and demands that they meet, which she does not initially agree to. She later admits that she has fallen for another man and dumps Ken at a highway. Determined to regain her love, Ken devises a plan to escape from Pulau Tekong as he feels that she is merely testing him. Whilst undergoing military exercises in hot weather, Ken stops drinking water in an attempt to force a heat injury, for which he would be sent home for ten days; he takes the extra measure of sleeping under a ceiling fan after dousing himself in cold water. His condition rapidly deteriorates and he is hospitalised after collapsing during training. Ken's father is alerted of his son's critical condition while in a company meeting. He quickly drives off to the hospital, but the sheer shock and strain causes him to have a stroke while driving and violently collide with another vehicle.
Ken wakes up in a hospital, surrounded by his two sisters. He realises that his foolish actions have caused problems for many people and cannot bear to face his father, who has survived the car crash and is recuperating in another ward in the same hospital. Awakened to reality, Ken is finally fit enough to go back to training. The film ends at this junction, and snippets of the next part are shown.
Cast
- Joshua Tan as REC Ken Chow
- Maxi Lim as REC Aloysius Jin a.k.a. "Wayang King"
- Wang Weiliang as REC Bang "Lobang" Lee Onn
- Noah Yap as REC Man In Ping a.k.a. IP Man
- Ridhwan Azman as REC Ismail Mohammed
- Aizuddiin Nasser as REC Muthu Shanmugaratnam
- Charlie Goh as REC Tan Wei Ming
- Tosh Zhang as 2SG Alex Ong, Platoon Sergeant of Ninja Company
- Luke Lee as 3SG Jed Heng, Section Commander of Ninja Company
- Fish Chaar as CPT S L Tham, Officer Commanding of Ninja Company
- Richard Low as Ken's father
- Irene Ang as Mary Chow, Ken's mother
- Yoo Ah Min as Ken's grandmother
- Wang Lei as Ken's uncle
- Tony Koh Beng Hoe as Ken's uncle's best friend
- Qiu Qiu as Amy, Ken's girlfriend
- Chen Tianwen as Mr. Jin, Aloysius' father
- Ye Li Mei as Mrs. Jin, Aloysius' mother
- Sherraine Low as Mayoki, IP Man's girlfriend
- Justin Dominic Misson as 1970s Army 3SG, Section Commander
- Biwa Mastura as Maria, Ken's maid and domestic helper working at Ken's semi-detached house for the Chow family
- Thien Jia Jia as Ken's Elder Twin Sister
- Thien Si Si as Ken's Younger Twin Sister
- Rovin Rajenthram as REC Kumar Krishnan
Themes
The main theme of this film is National service in Singapore, a popular topic amongst Singaporeans. In conjunction with the Ministry of Defence's 2012 NS45 campaign, From Fathers to Sons, it is meant to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Singapore's National Service. Emotional issues that recruits experience for a long period of time, such as not being able to be that in touch with relatives are tackled in part one. It also pokes fun into many infamous incidents related to the Singapore Army by parodying these events. Derek Elley of Film Business Asia claims that the driving factor of this film, National Service, is just a metaphor for the strict life in Singapore. The second part focuses more on the unity of the protagonists, as well as tapping more on hot social topics like foreign talent in Singapore. It gave "a stronger story than its predecessor", and had a "more meaty" drama aspect, according to Jack Neo. Other themes for part two include " sacrifice, love, family and patriotism".Production
Development
Ah Boys to Men is Jack Neo's first military-themed film, as well as his "most ambitious project so far" according to himself. Neo had wanted to shoot a military-themed film since his recruit days after being influenced by Taiwanese army films, but could not find the right opportunity. Neo was originally approached by MINDEF to edit footages from the 2010 documentary Every Singaporean Son into a film. After much deliberation, Neo decided to not use the footage and instead write a brand new script. The production received the full support from MINDEF to shoot the film; they were provided access to vehicles, equipment and weapons as well as on-site consultants. Neo did not accept financial funding from MINDEF as he wanted to retain full control of the creative process. The film was funded under the Media Development Authority’s Production Assistance grant, and by investors and sponsors, some of which included Toast Box, Bee Cheng Hiang and KPMG.Research for the film alone took around two and a half months. Neo said the decision to break the film into two parts was made after the distributors told him to keep the films 100 minutes in length, as any longer and it would have been more expensive and difficult to schedule.
With a budget of S$3 million, Ah Boys to Men is Singapore's most expensive film.
Casting
The crew employed a talent scout to find potential cast; casting began in March 2012. Additionally, an audition notice was uploaded on the production company's official website. JM Artiste Management – a collaboration between mm2 Entertainment and J Teams Productions – managed the cast. Neo initially wanted to include regulars like Shawn Lee and Joshua Ang, but ultimately decided not to, so as to give the audience a completely new feel. Approximately 500 auditioned for the lead roles. For this project, Neo wanted to work with bloggers and getai singers to create a new platform for acting. Many prominent businessmen in Singapore, such as Kenny Yap, executive chairman of Qian Hu Corporation, were also invited to make cameo appearances. The film marked the film debut for most of the lead cast, and it also resulted in a spike in their popularity, to the extent that " getting mobbed by passionate fans has become part of their everyday life."Crew
Ah Boys to Men was directed by Jack Neo and the script was written by Neo and Link Sng. Neo, Lim Teck, and Leonard Lai served as producers, while Neo's wife Irene Kng, along with Mang, Teck, Tengku Iesta, Tengku Alaudin, Kenny Chua, William Sin, Dominic Inn, Tan Tong Hai, Eric Liang and Sky Li Yunfei, served as executive producers.Filming
As part of preparation for the film, the cast members underwent a two-day Basic Military Training familiarisation course, which was, to one of the stars, Tosh Zhang, "as tough as what we really went through during national service." Filming took place mostly in Pulau Tekong, making Ah Boys to Men the first film to have filmed there. The "unpredictable" weather was a problem the crew encountered while filming at Tekong; 35 days were spent filming there. Other filming locations included Robinson Road, which was used for a major war scene and specially sealed off to the public for a day on August 19, 2012 so as to allow the crew to film; it was the first time it was closed for such reason. Neo was warned beforehand that destruction of the road incur fines.A certain fight scene set in a restaurant, which involved ten actors, took a night to finish filming. Aerial shots required the use of Spidercams and cameras strapped onto remote control plane. Scenes set in the 1970s were, according to Neo, the hardest to film as the details were hard to perfect. Additionally, Neo had to specially get 1970s-era local army helmets due to MINDEF not having any in stock. Army uniforms set in that era could not be found; Neo instead purchased new sets of uniforms and dyed them until they reached the desired colour. About half a day was spent on set daily; filming in total took seventy days to finish in September 2012.
Effects
For the opening scenes, in which many landmarks in Singapore were destroyed, computer-generated imagery was used to create the explosions. Neo's insistence to use real weapons and pyrotechnics for the shooting of the CGI-war sequences, despite the high cost, was due to him wanting to provide a "new feel" for the audience.The film features Dolby Atmos surround sound, the first South-East Asian film to do so. The visual effects were done by Vividthree Productions Pte Ltd and spearheaded by VFX Director Jay Hong.
Music
The official theme song of Ah Boys to Men, titled "Recruits' Anthem", was written, composed and performed by Tosh Zhang, a YouTube personality, Actor and also one of the cast. Most of the song was written during filming in Pulau Tekong. Initially rejected by director Jack Neo twice, it was first uploaded on YouTube, accompanied with an official music video, prior to the release of the film. The official music video was uploaded on YouTube on October 20, 2012. Reception to "Recruits' Anthem" was overwhelmingly positive and within a month of its uploading, it grossed 610,000 hits. As of March 2014, "Recruit's Anthem" has grossed over 2,000,000 hits.Release
Ah Boys to Men is the first two-part Singaporean film. Ah Boys to Men premiered on November 6, 2012 at the Golden Village Multiplex. It was first commercially released in Singapore on November 8, 2012 and it opened in Malaysian cinemas on December 20, 2012. Discussions with film distributors in Hong Kong and mainland China are ongoing. Both parts one and two will be showcased at the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market from March 18, 2013 to March 21, 2013.The film will be premiered at the in89 Digital Cinema, Ximending, Taiwan, on April 10, 2013, as well as at Resorts World Manila's cinema some time in April.