Maria

Do not get fooled by the high ratings. It´s a below-average action film with below-average actors. A very well known, no surprise one-dimensional storyline about revenge. No surprises at all.

This film is the average of films in every dimension. It is generic and completely forgettable. There are worse ways to spend the time it takes to watch it, but there are equally many better ways.

This film begins with an assassin named "Maria" (Christine Reyes) stealthily sneaking onto the inner courtyard of a heavily-guarded mansion. Not long afterward a fierce gun battle breaks out and she ends up killing all of her intended targets. The scene then shifts to seven years later where that same woman now has a husband by the name of "Bert" (Buji Lorenzana) and a young daughter named "Min-Min" (Johanna Rish Tongcua) and is quite content with her new life. Unfortunately, this changes when her former boss named "Kaleb" (Germaine De Leon) happens to see her and it's then disclosed that he has a score to settle with her which complicates things for all involved. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be a pretty good action film all things considered. I especially liked the confrontation between Maria and her replacement "Miru" (Jennifer Lee) which I thought was well played. Admittedly, while not in the same class as any of the "John Wick" films, this one managed to hold its own and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

In this revenge thriller, we follow Maria (Cristine Reyes) a woman with a troubled past as an assassin who has now retired and started a family. When her old partners discover she is still alive, they murder her husband and daughter in cold blood and she vows revenge. For the most part, it does drag quite a bit and I think that's due to a really poor script. The bad guys say typical bad guys things which completely detracts from the authenticity and just feels very last minute. The acting is not too bad at all; particularly from Reyes who brings a good lead performance and Ronnie Lazaro is also fun as Sir Greg. There are a couple of really well choreographed fight scenes with a keen focus on martial arts and take a lot of inspiration from recent action hits such as John Wick. It's biggest saving grace is the soundtrack with awesome pounding rock songs by Mr Bones & The Boneyard Circus which went straight onto my playlist! I'd recommend the soundtrack and Maria's incentive for vengeance is justified propelled by a disturbing sequence half way through. Not for the faint hearted but also retreading old ground and not bringing much new to the table

The cinematography was great. The writing was the worst thing about this movie. Try's way too hard to beAmerican cliche but ruins the whole move. The 'boss' is totally ridiculous and in no way to be taken serious or threatening. I know fight scenes are never realistic but we watch them anyway for fun, but this, totally ridiculous even though the choreography was done well. The special effects were very poor and way to much blood spray in every scene. This effect has been way over used in many films and does not look realistic at all. I felt nothing for the main character as i should have but there was no character development except for when they kill her family. Even then, it was too rushed. Had high hopes for this but it failed. I would recommend Buy Bust with Ann Curtis for a better movie all together.