Ah Boys to Men (film series)

Ah Boys to Men is a Singaporean satirical military comedy film series presented By J Team Productions and mm2 Entertainment, written and directed by Jack Neo and also produced by Neo, Lim Teck and Leonard Lai.

Ah Boys to Men 新兵正传
Directed by	Jack Neo
Written by	Jack Neo Link Sng
Produced by	Jack Neo Melvin Ang Lim Teck
Edited by	Yim Mun Chong
Music by	Tosh Zhang
Production companies	J Team Productions mm2 Entertainment Clover Films
Distributed by	Golden Village Pictures Clover Films
Release dates	8 November 2012 (2012-11-08) (Ah Boys to Men) 1 February 2013 (2013-02-01) (Ah Boys to Men 2)
Country	Singapore
Languages	English Mandarin Hokkien Malay Tamil
Budget	S$39.90 million

Development

Ah Boys to Men and Ah Boys to Men 2 are Jack Neo's first military-themed film,^[1] as well as his "most ambitious project so far" according to himself.^[2] 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.^[3] 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 footages and instead write a brand new script.^[4] 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.^[5] 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,^[6] and by investors and sponsors, some of which included Toast Box, Bee Cheng Hiang and KPMG.^[7]

Research for the film alone took around two and a half months.^[8] 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.^[3] With a budget of S$3 million, Ah Boys to Men and Ah Boys to Men 2 are Singapore's most expensive film.^[9]

Parts One and Two actually tell one entire story, but we had to cut the film into two because it was running too long. You’ll only really understand the whole story if you watch Part Two.

— Jack Neo, cited in ^[10]

Films

Ah Boys to Men (2012)

Main article: Ah Boys to Men

The film 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.

Ah Boys to Men 2 (2013)

Main article: Ah Boys to Men 2

The film 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 Neo. Other themes for the sequel include "sacrifice, love, family and patriotism".

Cast

Ah Boys to Men (2012)

Cast	Character	Description
Joshua Tan	REC Ken Chow	A spoilt teenager who dislikes the Army and is reluctant to enlist as he wants to study abroad with his girlfriend. Tan, originally from Melbourne, Australia, previously encountered a similar situation faced by his character in real life, when plans with his girlfriend were derailed by his mandatory National Service. Tan, an undergraduate at Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, had to defer his studies to film Ah Boys to Men and Ah Boys to Men 2.
Maxi Lim	REC Aloysius Jin a.k.a. "Wayang King"	One of Ken's bunk mates and a nerd stereotype. Ambitious in nature, he aims to be among the best and get into Officer Cadet School (OCS) so as not to disappoint his mother; his "wayang" behaviour is also encouraged by his mother as well. It is Lim's feature-length film debut; previously he had worked on local television series and short films.
Wang Weiliang	REC Bang "Lobang" Lee Onn	A street-smart and witty recruit, who according to Neo, "really nailed the portrayal of a slightly rebellious but very funny caricature". A getai singer by profession under the mentorship of Wang Lei, Wang auditioned for the role without prior preparation.
Noah Yap	REC Man In Ping a.k.a. IP Man	One of Ken's bunk mate. Yap had to defer his theatrical studies at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts to film Ah Boys to Men and Ah Boys to Men 2. It was reportedly Yap's "unconventional hairdo hair" that made Neo see potential in him. A certain scene required Yap to kiss co-star Tan's buttocks; Yap, though, did not find doing so uncomfortable. He said: "It's all acting. For me it [the scene] wasn't difficult … not that I have worked with a bare ass before." His nickname is a parody of Ip Man, a popular chinese martial artist portrayed by Donnie Yen.
Ridhwan Azman	REC Ismail Mohammed	One of Ken's bunk mates. Formerly taking an event management course located at Institute of Technical Education Bishan campus, Azman had to quit his studies to film Ah Boys to Men and Ah Boys to Men 2. Previously, he was a finalist in Campus SuperStar, a Chinese talent-singing competition.
Aizuddin Nasser	REC Muthu Shanmugaratnam	One of Ken's bunk mates.
Charlie Goh	REC Tan Wei Ming	One of Ken's bunk mates.
Tosh Zhang	2SG Alex Ong	A stern platoon sergeant in charge of Ninja Company and Ken's platoon known as Platoon 2, Section 2. Neo offered Zhang the role after viewing his vlogs. Said Neo of Zhang: "He is eloquent, has musical talent and acts well, too. It is rare to have such a unique all-rounder." Initially supposed to pursue film studies at Deakin University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Zhang deferred to film Ah Boys to Men and Ah Boys to Men 2 which subsequently turned down his place at the university. Following the release of Ah Boys to Men, he was nominated for The New Paper's 2012 Breakout Star award, a subcategory of the newspaper's annual Flame Awards. Zhang eventually won. Zhang became a nominee in the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards.
Luke Lee	3SG Jed Heng	Section Commander of Ninja Company and Ken's platoon known as Platoon 2, Section 2
Fish Chaar	CPT S L Tham	Officer Commanding of Ninja Company
Richard Low	Ken's father	Had a car accident at the end of this film because of a severe heart attack and stroke.
Irene Ang	Mary Chow, Ken's mother	Pampers Ken and finds all methods to defer him from National Service.
Yoo Ah Min	Ken's grandmother
Wang Lei	Ken's uncle	Taught his nephew Ken on how to "geng".
Tony Koh Beng Hoe	Ken's uncle's good and best friend	Also taught Ken on how to "geng".
Qiu Qiu	Amy	Ken's girlfriend, dumped Ken as she felt that he was childish.
Chen Tianwen	Mr. Jin	Aloysius' father
Ye Li Mei	Mrs. Jin	Aloysius' mother
Sherraine Law	Mayoki	IP Man's girlfriend
Justin Dominic Mission	1970s Army 3SG

Ah Boys to Men 2 (2013)

Cast	Character	Description
Joshua Tan	REC Ken Chow
Maxi Lim	REC Aloysius Jin a.k.a. "Wayang King"
Wang Weiliang	REC Bang "Lobang" Lee Onn
Noah Yap	REC Man In Ping a.k.a. IP Man	A parody of Ip Man, a popular chinese martial artist portrayed by Donnie Yen
Ridhwan Azman	REC Ismail Mohammed
Charlie Goh	REC Tan Wei Ming
Aizuddin Nasser	REC Muthu Shanmugaratnam
Tosh Zhang	2SG Alex Ong	Platoon Sergeant of Ninja Company
Luke Lee	3SG Jed Heng	Section Commander of Ninja Company
Fish Chaar	CPT S L Tham	Officer Commanding of Ninja Company
Wilson Ng	3WO K W Sng	Company Sergeant Major of Ninja Company
Richard Low	Ken's father
Irene Ang	Mary Chow, Ken's mother
Yoo Ah Min	Ken's grandmother
Wang Lei	Ken's uncle
Chen Tianwen	Mr. Jin, Aloysius' father
Ye Li Mei	Mr. Jin, Aloysius' mother
Sherraine Law	Mayoki, IP Man's girlfriend	Dumped IP Man for Gangster Zhen Zi Dan
Benjamin Mok	Gangster Zhen Zi Dan (literally "Real Bullet", loosely a parody of Donnie Yen)	Stole Mayoki, IP Man's girlfriend.
mrbrown	LTA S T Choong	An army officer. It is his first film role. For the role, he was made to go through "physical torture". At a press conference for part two, Lee said: "It was three days of physical torture. I ran about more during the filming than in my entire army life!" Neo has said that there may be more future collaborations between Lee and himself.

Crew

The film was directed by Jack Neo^[11] and the script was written by Neo^[12] and Link Sng.^[13][14] Neo, Lim Teck,^[15] and Leonard Lai^[16] 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.^[17][18]

See also

• Army Daze
• Honour and Passion
• Every Singaporean Son
• Every Singaporean Son – Epilogue
• Every Singaporean Son II – The Making of an Officer
• Rookies' Diary
• The Recruit Diaries
• When Duty Calls
• When Duty Calls 2