Sheriff (2024)

Sheriff Review

If One Two Jaga (a.k.a. Crossroads. One Two Jaga), the award-winning movie, once distinguished itself by addressing police corruption in a local production an area few films explore then Sheriff. Narko Integriti, Syafiq Yusof’s newest crime thriller, is laudable for doing so unreservedly. With Hollywood and Hong Kong genre movies as its reference points, such stories are not unheard of. However, Sheriff: Narko Integriti is groundbreaking because it breaks through tight national censorship boundaries.

Sharing screenwriting credits with Nazifdin Nasrudin from TV’s Special Force: Anarchy and Yusof Haslam (who also gets story credit), director Syafiq Yusof tracks Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sheriffudin Hussein aka “Sheriff” (Zul Ariffin). At the behest of his superiors, he has been sent to investigate some fellow cops within their own department among them Inspector Nazri (Syafiq Kyle), her sister ASP Syazlin (Azira Shafinaz) and another officer named Farouk (Amir Nafis).

With newly transferred ASP Jennifer Wong (Elizabeth Tan) by his side, Sheriff sets out to discover who the “Meth Killer” truly is; this murderer has been taking down dirty police officers as well as those who work for Tony Ifrit (Aaron Aziz), an underworld kingpin behind the country’s largest shabu (meth) syndicate.

But let me tell you now that what we see in this trailer isn’t representative of what Sheriff: Narko Integriti actually is an action-packed picture with some twists thrown in along the way. In short or rather long don’t know too much about it! There seems to be an obvious homage paid here towards Infernal Affairs but only during later parts would one realize this. Whether intentional or not doesn’t matter much; what matters is that Yusof keeps up a good pace for me throughout labyrinthine storytelling in an otherwise 133 minutes runtime.

However, thanks to Izaq Yuzaini’s tight editing along with Yusof’s overall taut yet assured direction, the film never feels slow or overstays its welcome as most local melodramatic films do (even those made with big budgets). And when it comes to action, there are dynamic camera moves designed by Yusof so as to bring out more of the visceral look and feel during gunfights, car chase scenes etc. Again these shots were well executed practically rather than relying on cheap-looking CGI blood used in similar genre pics nowadays.

Every actor shines here in Sheriff: Narko Integriti but perhaps my biggest gripe was Zul Ariffin’s pre-opening credits appearance as a very smug looking Sheriff also that weird beard took some getting used too. However once he started talking his mix of no-nonsense attitude combined with condescending behaviour towards others really brought out his character which I liked. Syafiq Kyle/Azira Shafinaz were great together playing supporting roles while surprisingly Elizabeth Tan excelled most with her understated performance as ASP Jennifer Wong bleached blonde hair/tattoos heavy makeup wore off on me after awhile though! Aaron Aziz does good job playing Tony Ifrit (the arrogant main antagonist) even though he looks like some kind of albino gorilla!

Sheriff. Narko Integriti does have some flaws, however it is able to overcome them by having enough dramatic tension, an engaging story and for the most part good acting by the ensemble cast. The movie is also better than previous films directed by Syafiq Yusof such as Special Force: Anarchy which was misguided and Polis Evo 3 that was overrated.

Watch Sheriff For Free On Gomovies.