Dead Kids

90 minutes with almost nothing happen, all the characters was annoying and unlikeable, no thrilling or suspense in here, just bunch of kids swearing with lack of capable acting, please avoid this crap or you'll be "dead kids" as well. Totally CRAP. Really hard to watch because the movie was superrrr boring.

Mikhail Red's "Birdshot" (2016) was the first Filipino film to stream on the Netflix platform. There had since been several other Filipino films to reach worldwide viewership this way. This year, Red goes one step further with his latest film "Dead Kids," which gains the distinction as the first Filipino film to be produced by Netflix. This had its world premiere last November 17, 2019 as the closing film of the recent Cinema One Originals film festival. Two days ago, it made its Netflix debut.

The title "Dead Kids" refer to outcasts or unpopular kids in school, those who are don't exist to the other students. The story refers to a gang of such kids: the serious leader Blanco, the wacky joker Paolo, the vaping Chinese nerd Yu and their new recruit, poor scholar Mark Sta. Ana. Tired of being tormented by popular rich kid Chuck Santos, the boys hatch a plot to kidnap the bully and demand a sizable ransom from his drug lord father. Once their nefarious plan gets going though, they realize how much they were in over their heads.

This is another one of those youth-themed films showing their shenanigans in school. While these could be very entertaining for young people, for parents they paint disconcerting pictures of what they don't see after they drop their kids off every morning. We have seen these tropes before -- the bullies, the mean girls, the nerds, the massage parlor, the dance clubs. However, this one took things further with a particularly violent turn which made it all the more disturbing for everyone.

Admittedly, the actors may look older than typical senior high school students, but they all brought their A-games to their roles. They were all very natural in their portrayal of youthful recklessness. Vance Larena looked dangerously volatile with his big baleful eyes reflecting issues jumbled around inside Blanco's head. Khalil Ramos was too effective at being the annoying jerk that Paolo was, you'd want to shut that noisy mouth of his yourself. New actor Kelvin Miranda pulled off the misfit naivete required of the central role of Mark very well.

Among the girls, Sue Ramirez had prominent billing, but her character, the smart girl Janina, was largely sidelined and undeveloped. Instead, it was Gabby Padilla who got to join in the action more as Paolo's nosy girlfriend Yssa.

With energetic camera work and edgy musical score, director Mikhail Red succeeded to create a nihilistic milieu in which the underdogs attempt the unthinkable to extract revenge and extort money at the same time. He could have pushed the outrageous concept into further depths of violence, but wisely elected to still keep things grounded in reality. Part one of the caper may have looked a bit too easy to pull off, but Red made sure the rest of the plan would not just come together that conveniently for the boys. The suspense and tension of the final outcome will keep viewers hanging on to the very end. 7/10.

Honestly, I was really impressed the first time I watched this. I don't really watch Filipino movies anymore because of the cringefest we usually get from film festivals, but hey, I was randomly scrolling on Netflix and saw this, and the trailer was very compelling--I had to watch it.

And oh boy, slow clap for the production of this film-from the music/score, to the shots, color grading was aight-everyone's doing it so it was nothing new but it was right for the aim of the film.

The acting was actually really good, I was impressed, it was nothing like the ones I've seen in Philippine cinema/TV with all the over the top screaming, crying, and such. I hate to say this, but Sue Ramirez has that typical Filipino acting, but I guess they needed someone mainstream to invite audience into watching this film. I loved the scene at the car before they did the act, the silence was so intense, you could feel and see how nervous they were, which was only the natural thing to feel if it was your first time kidnapping someone, moreover, as a 19 y/o! I have nothing against with the conyos in this film, I know enough conyos in my life, so yeah, I thought they were natural.

The second time I watched this, I watched it with my fam, it suddenly became corny and cheesy. My parents didn't understand the movie, so I guess this one is for the youth. But still, props to Mikhail Red for doing a different take on the Philippine films. Hope this keeps going and reach wider audience.

... gone wrong? Well you have to watch to know. Though I would recommend watching the trailer first or at least read about what this is ... about. Not everything is for everyone and those teenage boys can be quite annoying. And when you come to their "plan", you may be even more annoyed.

The movie tries to keep it as real as possible, but gets quite crazy at times. Coincidences and everything included that is. The resolution may make some mad too, but it is what it is ... I've seen worse movies and as bad as the characters are, the movie is decent (acting has some downfalls though)

The premise of a bunch of amateurs gathering together to pull off a great crime - robbery, kidnapping, murder, or something else - may have been done many time before in movies, but even then I always find the premise irresistible. When I sat down to watch this particular example, I was especially intrigued because it was not an American effort, but instead a Filipino effort. The new setting gave this some novelty, which did help sometimes when the movie was showing off its shortcomings. I'm not saying this is a BAD movie - it's not boring, and I admit that part of me was interested in seeing how things would be wrapped up in the end. And despite a fairly low budget, it never looks so cheap to be distracting. However, the movie has its downs as well as ups. It doesn't seem to find a consistent tone - sometimes it's goofy, and sometimes it's serious. Also, while I know the central figures are just teenagers, even then they seem really stupid and haven't taken the time to plan things out (it seems they make their plans in 48 hours or less.) Some viewers may also have a problem with the fact the characters are constantly changing between speaking English and speaking Tagalog (though I know this is how many Filipinos do speak.) I'd recommend it to viewers who don't have their expectations particularly high.