12 Philippine Showbiz Today
August 8 - 21, 2018
BuyBust: a movie to watch!
“BuyBust” is a film by Erik Matti,
that comes to establish his prowess
on creating genre films through a
humongous production that included
309 stuntmen and 1,278 extras, and
relentless action.
Erik Matti is one of the most
recognizable and most crucial
figures of the Filipino film industry,
with films like “On the Job”, “Honor
Thy Father” and “The Aswang
Chronicles” among others, along
with his work on production.
Nina Manigan is the new recruit
of an elite anti-narcotic squad.
However, she is definitely not a rookie,
since a few months back, she was a
member of another team which was
completely eradicated (apart from
her, obviously) after their leader gave
them the wrong orders. This time,
Nina and a group of the best men
and women of the squad have to
accomplish a buybust, with the help of
a captured “asset”, Teban, who used
to be a member of one of the most
notorious gang of Manila, headed
by Biggie Chen. The operation is
headed by an “outsider”, agent Rudy
Dela Cruz, to the frustration of both
the team’s leader, Lacson, and the
rest of the members. The operation
however, does not go according to
last song heard in the movie definitely
gets the message through.
One of the best aspects of
the film is Neil Derrick Bion’s
cinematography, which creates an
intensely claustrophobic setting,
taking full advantage of the slum
environment. Occasionally, the
images are filled with different colors,
blue, red, orange, that compliment
the dark atmosphere that permeates
the film, intensifying the sense of
agony the dominates the whole
narrative. Among these, the scenes
in the rain that include a three-
minute, one cut action scene where
Nina is fighting scores of enemies
are the most impressive, while the
panoramic shots in the outro highlight
the area the story takes place in
quite nicely. Jay Halili’s editing is
equally accomplished, with the film
implementing a rather rapid pace
that suits the aesthetics perfectly.
The music, which comprises mostly
of heavy metal-hard rock and dub
tracks also suits the aesthetics, and in
combination with the editing, allows
the film to function as an intense
music video a number of times.
All of the above make it quite
clear that “BuyBust” presents a
combination of “The Raid” and
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plan, and the group find themselves
fighting for their lives in the slums,
against both Chen’s henchmen and
scores of local residents who hold
a grudge against the police from
previous raids. As the policemen
realize that someone has betrayed
them, all hell breaks loose, and Nina
and Rico, a true force of nature for
the elite squad, have to face scores
of enemies in order to survive.
The film starts a bit slowly,
building the tension and introducing
the characters, but as soon as the
story moves to the slums, the action
picks up and never actually stops,
taking over the whole narrative.
Hand-to-hand combat, guns, knives
and any kind of weapon one could
imagine are used in an unending
series of brutal battles, against both
experts and simple people (including
housewives). The death toll presented
on screen is unprecedented, as cops,
criminals and slum residents fall like
flies with no-mercy whatsoever. Erik
Matti also included a message about
the War on Drugs raging in Manila
and the corruptio