When was the last time you watched a Filipino action film? For me, it's been a while! I can't even remember the last local action movie I've seen in a long time! I've heard of Buy Bust but I've never seen it! So when the movie Maria was recommended to me on the Netflix streaming app, I got curious and watched it. In this post, I'll share my thoughts on the movie and whether it is worth the watch or not!
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| Image Credit: Viva Films |
Maria is a film starring Cristine Reyes and directed by Pedring Lopez. From what I've learned, this movie is from Viva Films and produced in partnership with Netflix. It was first released in 2019. The film also stars KC Montero, Germaine De Leon, Freddie Webb, and Ronnie Lazaro. There are several actors with smaller roles in this film, but it is this set of actors who appear in the film the most.
Plot
The film is about Lily, an assassin for a big criminal cartel in the Philippines. Through some flashbacks, the movie shows that she wants to stop killing people. She even asks her boyfriend, fellow assassin Kaleb (Germaine De Leon), to help her.
During one of their missions, she refused to shoot the wife and child of their target. She decides to save them from the assassins instead. After that, the next scenes show her living a different life as Maria. She is now a wife and mother with a normal life. That normal life does not last long.
During a day out with her family, one of the members of Maria's old cartel takes a photo of her. Kaleb sees the photo and immediately instructs his men to find her. It turns out that after helping the mother and child, Maria had faked her death. It was only with the photo that they discovered she was still alive.
As the cartel finds Maria, this leads to a chase and a fight between Maria and members of the cartel in a public market. She escapes, but it is not long before Kaleb and his men find her home and attack her and her family.
Kaleb and his men shoot Maria's husband and daughter and they try to kill her soon after. Maria fights them off and ends up killing everyone except for Kaleb, who escapes.
The rest of the movie then revolves around Maria running to her old mentor Greg (Ronnie Lazaro) for help. She plans her revenge against her old cartel and by the end, she manages to kill Kaleb for what he has done to her family.
My Review
There is so much I want to say about the movie. There's so much to unpack! Let me start with my questions. It's not about it being bad, it's that I have a lot of questions about them!
The Questionables
People Speaking in English
The first thing that I noticed about the film was that so many of them were speaking in English. Nothing wrong with that, many Filipinos speak English. My problem with it is that switching from English to Tagalog felt awkward and unnatural. I wish they could have stuck to one language instead of all that. I did not see the point.
Female Assasin Attire
What is it with female assassins in this movie wearing these tiny tops all the time? It doesn't seem to be a practical form of protection for them when they fight. I get that they want the female assassins to look attractive but lethal but they could do it without doing that. You could look hot without showing too much skin. Look at Maggie Q!
The Gratuitous Shower Scene
Why do action films involving women often have a shower scene? You know that one where they are washing the blood away from their body? Is this a right of passage or something?
Disappearing Storylines
I know plot points are there to move things along but it feels like they were dropping them in and out on a whim in this movie. The story of the governor and the cartel was one of them. The cartel wanted revenge for the governor talking about them. The thing is, as soon as they saw Maria, it's like they forgot about it.
Another plot point that they dropped? The murder of Maria's family. The cartel leader (Freddie Webb) told him man in the police force to take care of it, then we never heard about it again. It doesn't make sense. It was a big case. Maria's husband was a supporter of the governor. It felt weird to me.
Why Did She Not Disappear
After all the effort it took to fake her death, it baffles me why Maria did not decide to move somewhere far away. The cartel was bound to find her living in the same place where they were. As good of an assassin as she was, that did not seem like a smart thing to do.
The Violence
I know it goes with the theme of the film, but there were moments when the scenes felt too violent. It felt that they were too casual about throwing these scenes around in the film. Things got very bloody in this one.
The Good
Female Action Lead
I thought that it was good to see a local action film after a long time. It was perfect that it was an action film with a female lead. I love seeing women prove that they can do things as well as men do. Cristine Reyes did a good job in her fight scenes. It left me wondering why she has not done anything similar after this movie.
Acting
Ronnie Lazaro as Greg was such a highlight for this movie. I felt that despite the darkness of the plot he still managed to make his scenes feel less grim and depressing.
Cristine Reyes, being a drama veteran, was also good in this film. While there were other good acting moments in the movie, I felt that it was not balanced. Some actors were overacting, and some seemed like they were underacting. This was another thing that made some of the scenes seem awkward.
Fight Scenes
The fight scenes were all well choreographed, but the execution not so much. Cristine Reyes did such a good job in them, along with Germaine De Leon. You could tell by whatever they were doing that the moves were all good and well thought out. Something was missing with it in some points and that was a little disappointing for me.
There were moments when it seemed the fights were too slow or that the stuntmen were waiting for the next move. I wish they edited it out or sped up some parts to make it seem more exciting. It was still good and promising, but it could have been better.
Cinematography
The lighting and the colors in the film lent to the feel of the entire movie. The colors were dark and gritty in the cartel scenes. It was a huge contrast to the bright colors of Maria's family life.
I love that local movies are attempting to do something different from the usual Pinoy films. It's like we're always watching the same genres in Philippine cinema, so it's great to see something new. I know action films are not new, but films like this starring female leads are. I would love to see more of that happening in the future. I would love it if I could see a local action film that did not focus on crime...something like Old Guard would be great. Someday, I hope someone writes something like that for the local cinema.
One thing I'm curious about in this film is that they did not end the movie with Maria killing Caleb. I thought that would have been an OK ending for it. When they did the scene with Maria and Greg at the bar after everything would have been good too. But to have the film end with the cartel guys looking over Kaleb's body and plotting revenge? That feels like a hint for a part 2.
I'm not sure the movie would need more of this story. Maria wanted out, and she did. Kaleb killed her family and she got her revenge. Even if they did part 2, the remaining characters in the cartel don't feel strong enough to carry the revenge plot. I thought Germaine Padilla did a good job as the scorned and obsessed ex. I'm not sure if Freddie Webb or KC Montero could pull off something similar in part 2 if they ever did one.
Would you ever watch a Pinoy action film? Would you watch it if it featured a female lead? If your answer to both questions is yes, then Maria is a movie that I would recommend to you. It is a promising move for this genre in local cinema. I want to think that it can only get better from here.
What did you think of my review? Let me know in the comments if it makes you interested in the movie or not! Let me know if you have any similar movie recommendations so I can check them out!
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