In "Desperadas 2," Joel Lamangan's woman-empowerment-themed chick flick is back to impart one major lesson after a year: nothing is constant in this world. Even supposedly wrapped-up conflicts tend to open a new can of worms in sequels should box office returns prove lucrative and the end result more often than not feels a forced continuation of the previous narrative with nothing more to offer than a regurgitation of what had transpired earlier.
Half-sisters Isabella (Ruffa Gutierrez), Patricia (Rufa Mae Quinto), Stephanie (Iza Calzado), and Courtney (Marian Rivera) may have walked out comparatively more mature after their initial tangle with problems concerning sex, love, and relationships in the first film, but "Desperadas 2" is still a mess in search of a consistent tone and whose intersecting character arcs function more as rough cuts of a multi-episode mini-series.
The follow-up finds its four leading ladies with a new set of problems. Isabella is having managerial problems with her partner Vito (Jay-R), a music artist on the rise. Sultry Patricia is now in okay terms with ex-husband (Wendell Ramos) who has since come out of the closet, but is now pursued by a rich congressman (Christian Vasquez). Stephanie is having post-partum depression and is certain her husband (TJ Trinidad is having an affair with a young nurse (Nina Jose). Bubbly Courtney is being stalked by a seemingly crazed admirer even as her marriage with religious fanatic husband (Will Devaughn) is on the rocks.
The movie's come-on, though, is the arrival of their African half-sister (Ogie Alcasid), whose character lurches about in search of a specific role. Is she the writers' metaphor for the mantra that beauty is only skin-deep? Is she an allegory for the unfortunate racism that exists among us? Is she to bring the movie to total slapstick-ness? Is she an attempt to capitalize on Ogie's cross-dressing gig amplified by the popularity of a bratty girl in a local gag show? The movie seems to work on all these aspects but never really sure of where to go.
There's ripe possibility in five narrative arcs that are begging for further examination to deal with some deeper issues. But "Desperadas 2" isn't interested in profoundness, whether by sheer design or only because it doesn't trust the material it has; its only interest is to let these girls do a catwalk in the posh area of the Fort Strip as they blithely shimmy their way to female camaraderie through moments of hit-and-miss (mostly miss) jokes, pedestrian acting, and awkward pacing.
By the time the film wraps up happily in the end, lots of promise have been placed on the table only to disappear again in a whirlwind of events. Here's hoping these girls have really learned their lessons well and spare the audience yet another exhibition of their ordeals.
