Throughout the 90s, Ian Veneracion has starred in several action movies, earning him the reputation of being one of the youngest action stars of the era. Though his roles vary in degree, he also had a handful of films where he played a respectable policemen, notably in "Bastardo".
Bastardo tells the story of Lt. Bobby Cuevas (Ian Veneracion), a young policeman from Olongapo who goes through two separate obstacles. Bobby and his team successfully arrested Kevin Marquez (Ramon Christopher) for abducting a businessman. But despite pleading guilty, he was able to escape with the help of his brother (Mark Gil). The group's abduction of Bobby's girlfriend (Ina Raymundo) prompted Bobby to a final face-off with the group. Meanwhile, Bobby's half-brother Leo (Raymond Bagatsing) is envious of the former's reputation as a policeman, leading to their father admire Bobby more than Leo. After an unsuccessful attempt by Leo's friends to sabotage his house, leading to his father's death, he escapes to Manila and joins Rex Flores' (Boy Roque) group. Their encounter with Amang Saklaw's (Manjo del Mundo) group caught Bobby's attention. Despite arresting him, Leo was accidentally killed after being caught by Rex, prompting Bobby to arrest the latter.
Despite showing the backstory of Bobby, who's the illegitimate son of a businessman, the movie fell short on the storyline, written by Henry Nadong. It contains two stories that barely connect to each other. There's Bobby's half-brother who is envious of Bobby's reputation as a policeman. And there's the brother of a syndicate leader. It would've helped if the the two can make a movie by themselves through sequels or if Leo joined the group since they both share their hate towards Bobby. Just like the typical Pepe Marcos movies, it only has a couple of drama scenes: the quarrel between Bobby and his drunk mother (Evangeline Pascual), and the death of his father (Johnny Vicar).
Ian Veneracion gave a good account of himself in playing the title role, where his character proved to overcome his reputation as a bastard. Mark Gil and Ramon Christopher were just mere caricatures in playing the brothers of a kidnap group. Let alone Raymond Bagatsing, who is so slick in playing the envious half-brother in the less harmful way, knowing that he has bagged a number of villain roles in action movies. Ina Raymundo was no slouch when it comes to action scenes and her character managed to showcase more than being Bobby's winy girlfriend who seeks for more attention rather than understand how tough his work is. If you want to see more of her action scenes, watch "Masamang Damo" and "Kaaway Hanggang Hukay". Evangeline Pascual managed to deliver her drama scenes very well as a drunk mother, despite her limited appearance. The action scenes are well-staged, including the scene where Bobby and Rex fought up in the air, the shootout between two groups in the Tenement and the final showdown in an abandoned factory.
Overall, Bastardo is one of the decent films Marcos directed for OctoArts/GMA during the late 90s. Despite the flaws in its storyline, it managed to make up with the action scenes and dialogues.
