Director: Erik Matti
Year: 2018
Country: Philippines
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Action
Plot:
With a drug problem running town, Nani Manigan (Anne Curtis) is assigned to a special task force including Lacson (Sheen Greer) and Rico (Brandon Vera) to stop the spread out of a special slumlord. Learning their mission has to be changed when their boss unexpectedly shows up ahead of schedule, they are soon thrown into a chaotic fight with the locals and the boss' henchmen who are still on the scene. As the firefight turns into a far deadlier fight for survival than they anticipated, the group has to use their skills and their smarts to fight back against the endless hordes of citizens attacking them in order to survive the encounter.
Review:
Overall, this was a rather thrilling and exciting genre effort. Most of what works in this one is tied to the frantic and chaotic main section of the film where it dives into the strong series of action efforts. Not only does this include the training montages and the fateful initial mission that caused her entire troop to fall during the raid in the village offering a stellar series of firefights between the bodyguards and the group attempting to execute their raid. From there, it becomes a non-stop battle to get out as the action kicks up and explodes into a series of stellar shootouts, hand-to-hand knife-fights and explosive handmade devices and weapons that really moves this one along nicely. With plenty of tight, close-quarters camerawork and enough double-crosses in the story to remain interesting amongst the bloodshed and flying bullets on-screen, this section of the film really works nicely overall.
The cast here is solid enough for an action film as well. The attempt to make lead Anne Curtis as Nani Manigan a martial arts star is a bit of a stretch since she stumbles over the execution and looks like someone waiting for her cues to strike out the choreography she knows, especially in the knife-fighting scenes which look rather clumsy even though, to credit where credit is due, the fact that she performs them instead of a stunt-double is commendable. However, the rest of the time she carries herself well as the no-nonsense cop trying to atone for her guilty conscious with the previous raid. She comes off as heroic, resourceful and in charge of the situation the further in trouble they go which is a great sign of a competent leader and is truly likable in the role. The rest of her squad, from Sheen Gener as the bear Lacson to Brandon Vera as the loyal Rico who all play their parts well, even Levi Ignacio as the slimy slumlord Chongki who's at the forefront of their mission in the first place.
While those are all somewhat enjoyable elements, there are a few minor flaws with this one. Perhaps the biggest issue here is the overall length which is quite a bit longer than it really needs to be in this type of storyline. Although this particular type of feature should be a little bit longer than usual, this here feels a bit excessive with the film taking a few too many scenes past their point of impact or usefulness. This has way too much padding showing the group approaching the initial hideout as there's no real reason why they had to get lost on the way there or the group waiting around with the entire conversation playing out for their mission to go into effect which is aided by the total chaos over their situation being played out at night in the dark during a thunderstorm. These make it really hard to tell what's happening as much as the slightly overlong sequences.
Overview: *** 1/2/5
While it's a tad overlong and really didn't need to be, there are more than enough positives here that really impress enough to give this a stellar series of features to hold it up. Definitely give it a watch if you're into the more brutal and explosive round of action films that are coming out or find this one intriguing, while those that really prefer the slicker side of the genre should heed some caution.
This ran as part of our coverage of the 2018 Fantasia Festival series of reviews.
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