BuyBust

Ten stars if rampaging killing in the slums of the Philippines is your pleasure. Duterte would be pleased. Three stars for lots of nothing going on except walking, waiting, hiding in slum alleyways. The first 35 min thats all you get - snooze. But, when the fighting starts it doesn't end. Could win honors for highest body count by personally armed people inflicted on many others.

This movie has a lot of action. I enjoyed watching it. I recommend watching this movie.

Okay I may be inviting trouble here but what the heck. I hate to use the term, but OVERRATED may very well apply in this case.

The movie looked just like a 2-hour compilation of all the fight scenes and gunshots we've seen in the movies. Just that. There's no real story. Or maybe I was expecting a docu? Then again, the director, Erik Matti, made it clear this is not his "statement" film. So what went wrong? I think Matti capitalized on the fight scenes to the point that he lost the essence of it. This is entitled "Buybust" after all, a flagship project of the current administration-so it feels underwhelming to just see Anne and her team kick here, shoot there. Blood here, screams there. Is there more? I'm afraid there's none.

Now before I get criticized for the "there's no story" remark. Here it is. You judge for yourself if this is considered a "story". Manigan (Anne Curtis) is part of an anti-drug team tasked with catching a big fish named Biggie Chen. They embark on an entrapment operation with the help of their intel asset. Biggie Chen plays safe, so he invites the asset to transact on his village, a slum area in Manila. The area literally looks like a maze, and once inside, its hard to find your way out. Soon, the team figured that they were set-up, and they struggle to survive and come out of the maze alive.

I find it hard to engage in a movie where the lead/s seemingly feel like IMMORTAL/S that they're too invincible to die dammit! Its one thing if you're superman, but I thought we're mirroring Philippine society here with this theme? In here, you'll see Anne Curtis battle it out with two groups: 1) The drug syndicate (complete with ammunitions) and 2) the zombie-like crowd who has had it all and wants nothing to do with the drug war. She battles with them AT THE SAME TIME. And she's injured and she's got no ammunitions. And she's not familiar with the place! Try harder to convince me. Unless this is comedy. There's just quite so many plotholes that defies reality and common practice here.

There's no strong message delivered in here. Unless you count the few minutes in the ending. Other than that, this is just really a work of fiction.

The fight scenes execution were okay. There's too much gunshots here that I think I may have gone deaf in the theater. It also didn't help that the illumination (because the entrapment operation was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM and ended in the early dawn) was dark and it was raining (because of course, it always rains when you want a bloody violence to ensue-it just helps with the dramatic effect) and so it was hard to make of on who's fighting who.

If there's any positive aspect of the film, it is (and only this) the music. The music here went far lengths, and it was the only redeeming factor here. Too bad it was only the music that I liked here.

I'll start with something I noticed as a complaint in other reviews: the camera. And yes, mainly in the first half, where all the action is so to say starting, it is a bit crappy, but still not that bad as you can see it in some Hollywood blockbusters. For me, the sound is a bigger problem, especially when it comes to the speech - too low. Anyway, the actors are fine, it isn't something that requires a master acting skills, but anyway, a crappy actor can turn a good movie into a bad one. As far as it goes for the fighting scenes - average, don't expect something like Iko Uwais, Tony Jaa or Scott Adkins.

The idea for the movie is fine, it's just the overall release could have been better done, just a bit more. But for the type of movies that this one is, I still find it good enough, yet not among the best ones as it is similar to The Raid: Redemption, but not at its level.

Excellent little low budget action flick out of SEA that's heavy on the octane and light on the social commentary. Obvious digitization of effects and several choreographed fight sequences that are improperly filmed (angles reveal punches not landing and lack of actual strength going into strikes, so some of the melee shots look more like limp noodle fights lol) amid a script that has its fair share of hackneyed dialogue is ultimately the straw that breaks BuyBust's back and prevents it from standing tall against the more well-known genre greats. Despite the film's obvious budgetary constraints and seemingly novice continuity errors, it's still a fantastic piece of low budget cinema that is definitely worth watching for fans of foreign crime/action drama.

Maniga is one attractive pinay with an athletic build and a fiery temperament--the result of an angst-riddled mindset molded by previous career-related trauma--that fits the character of her lead role perfectly. Supporting cast is largely forgettable aside from a very select few figures, like the Dwayne Johnson/Dave Bautista pinoy clone with the bottlecap charm that plays her main partner throughout a majority of the movie. Apart from the cast, the insanely claustrophic corridors of the Gracia favela that BuyBust takes place in helps immensely with ratcheting up the movie's tension and is partially reminiscent of the famous elevator/hallway scene from 2003's "Oldboy." The hordes of pissed off civilians killing both gangster and cop alike also add to Maniga's predicament and helps keep the movie's primary nemesis (Biggie Chen) from getting too stale or annoying to tolerate. It's a fresh rotating marquee of danger from all angles for Maniga and her squad and it helps the audience commiserate with the sense of helplessness that permeates the length of the movie as night turns to day in Maniga's odyssey into a drug-fueled inferno as she fights tooth and nail to stay alive.

If you like Korean action flicks like Man From Nowhere or Indonesian action flicks like The Night Comes For Us or better yet, Vietnam's "Furie," you will definitely get a kick or two out of BuyBust and should watch it on Netflix at least once.

A solid 6/10!