I remember first seeing this movie played in a bus around 2009. I was never a fan of Filipino films especially the older ones. The action ones are always cheesy. The comedy ones are so cheesy. Heck, I think every Filipino movies are chessy. Of course, I am not always right as this movie is one of the exceptions.
The movie starts as a comedy. I was LOLing throughout the beginning. Nothing fell out of place. Nothing was slow or fast. Everything was smooth in its own way and that's something a lot of Filipino movies before fell. Did I mention I'm not a fan of Filipino movies? Then the movie begins to shift from comedy to action towards the end. Of course there are limitations to Filipino action movies. We (yes, I'm a Filipino) don't have CGI unlike Americans or other progressed countries. Everything in the movie, I believe, was done for real i.e. explosions except of course the gunshots. That would be ridiculous. Anyway, despite limitations, the action was all decent. For the movie's time, it was all okay.
Now, for the story, it was based on the real life story of Boyong Manalac but, like the end credit said, was added with fictional characters (events as well) to make them more suitable for film. And this, for me, is the best part of the movie. The story was just, like I said in the first part of this review, smooth. You fall in love (not romantically) with the character/s, you get attached to them as the story moves forward, so at the end, you feel what they feel. At least, this was the case for me. But I believe I will speak for most of those who have watched the movie.
The acting was okay. For the comedic parts, definitely no take-myself-seriously acting was needed. It was all okay and during the end part when the "emotional" kick, kicks in, the acting was still decent. What I mean to say is, it was all believable.
And then, over all, the movie didn't fail to entertain. Heck, after the movie, I was like "Wow!" and I rarely have that reaction when watching Filipino movies. Despite the darkness of the movie (literally since its an old, un-remastered movie), the quality trandcends this limitation through the entertainment it has given me as well as the other people in the bus whose eyes are glued to the little screen. And that is why, this movie is a classic and deserves a full 10/10.
Thank you for reading.
The movie starts as a comedy. I was LOLing throughout the beginning. Nothing fell out of place. Nothing was slow or fast. Everything was smooth in its own way and that's something a lot of Filipino movies before fell. Did I mention I'm not a fan of Filipino movies? Then the movie begins to shift from comedy to action towards the end. Of course there are limitations to Filipino action movies. We (yes, I'm a Filipino) don't have CGI unlike Americans or other progressed countries. Everything in the movie, I believe, was done for real i.e. explosions except of course the gunshots. That would be ridiculous. Anyway, despite limitations, the action was all decent. For the movie's time, it was all okay.
Now, for the story, it was based on the real life story of Boyong Manalac but, like the end credit said, was added with fictional characters (events as well) to make them more suitable for film. And this, for me, is the best part of the movie. The story was just, like I said in the first part of this review, smooth. You fall in love (not romantically) with the character/s, you get attached to them as the story moves forward, so at the end, you feel what they feel. At least, this was the case for me. But I believe I will speak for most of those who have watched the movie.
The acting was okay. For the comedic parts, definitely no take-myself-seriously acting was needed. It was all okay and during the end part when the "emotional" kick, kicks in, the acting was still decent. What I mean to say is, it was all believable.
And then, over all, the movie didn't fail to entertain. Heck, after the movie, I was like "Wow!" and I rarely have that reaction when watching Filipino movies. Despite the darkness of the movie (literally since its an old, un-remastered movie), the quality trandcends this limitation through the entertainment it has given me as well as the other people in the bus whose eyes are glued to the little screen. And that is why, this movie is a classic and deserves a full 10/10.
Thank you for reading.
