Co-directors Ubay Fox & Agus Pestol have done an admirable job of imitating Disney/Marvel superhero escapades with their Indonesian costume crimefighter actioneer "Valentine," about a chick whose audition for a reality superhero television show is going out and thwarting crime. Laughable though it looks with goofy dubbing, this brisk, 97-minute thriller contains stinger scenes during the end credits. Estelle Linden stars as Sri the eponymous heroine who dresses like the female counterpart to Lee Falk's "The Phantom" in her egg-plant purple outfit. The low-budget nonsense turns out to be a lot of fun. A waitress signs up to play the lead in a superhero movie. An American, Bono (Matthew Settle of "U-571"),hires her, and she dresses up like a royal nun. No, she doesn't tote a pistol. Instead, she relies on the martial art known as Silat. She has been practicing it all her life with his brother, Umbra (Ahmad Affandy of "Sundul Gan: The Story of Kaskus"),and her father. Meanwhile, a Darth Vader sounding villain who calls himself Shadow (Yes, he's dressed from head to toe in black like a S.W.A.T. sniper.) starts a war with the police of Batavia City. It seems that Umbra's father, a high-ranking official in the Batavia Police Department, committed suicide, and neither Sri nor Umbra have fond memories of him. The father raised them to be workers, and Sri turns down a chance to attend college to work. Shadow makes a terrific villain, and he thinks very highly of himself. Flanking him on each side are three martial arts babes who look like clowns. The cinematography is as good as is the close-quarters combat sequences. Although it promises to be light-hearted, fast-paced, and derivative, "Valentine" springs a couple of serious surprises on both its characters as well as the audience. You don't have to wait until February to enjoy "Valentine" with its acrobatic counterpart.

I hadn't even heard about the 2017 Indonesian superhero movie titled "Valentine" before now in 2021, when I had the chance to sit down to watch it. In fact, as I sat down to watch it, I didn't even know it was an Indonesian movie.

Let me just be the first to say that I was more than genuinely entertained and surprised with the movie from writers Sarjono Sutrisno, Beby Hasibuan and Aswin Siregar. This was actually a rather impressive movie and a very enjoyable movie to watch.

The storyline told in "Valentine" was a good and entertaining one, though it felt like an Indonesian version of "The Phantom" somehow. But it worked out quite well, because the story was one that picks you up and immerse you into the action. I was genuinely entertained by this movie from start to end.

As for the acting in the movie, well I was impressed, and I found that the actors and actresses were doing good jobs. I wasn't familiar with the cast here, as I haven't seen all that many Indonesian movies. But I was more than genuinely impressed with lead actress Estelle Linden, she really can fight. And I really hope that she will put out more action and martial arts movies in the future.

It should also be said that the costume department working on the movie really did a phenomenal job. I liked the costumes quite a bit, especially on the entourage that followed Shadow (the villain) around; they really had colorful and impressive outfits.

Unfortunately I had the misfortune to sit down to watch a version that was fully dubbed into English. It was atrocious to listen to, and I loathe dubbed movies. But still, the storyline and the action in "Valentine" was so entertaining that I bit the apple and endured the horrible dubbing.

"Valentine" is a movie that I can strongly recommend that you sit down to watch. While it is not a super-hero movie per se, as Valentine has no super powers, it is a hero movie nonetheless. My rating of "Valentine" is a well-deserved seven out of ten stars.

A comic book movie done on a low budget. Despite the low budget, there is actually reasonable character development. Yes it is a bit generic, but most super hero movies are. The special effects are horrendous, but the martial arts scenes are actually quite good. Asian movies have a tendency to have a certain style and this one is no exception. A few of the action scenes border on being just stupid (police with weapons and not one fires at the bad guys). But for the most part the movie is enjoyable.