BuyBust (2018)

The one thing that director Erik Matti had going for with the years-long marketing for his 2018 film BuyBust is the afterglow from the 2013 film On the Job. This isn't necessarily a bad thing: OtJ was a great film, and the follow-up does a pretty good job of carrying over the spirit–if not the characters–of the previous movie. 

BuyBust's premise is simple, and familiar: a team of special agents stakes out a buy bust operation, hence the name, and things go south. In this case, it goes incredibly south. Special agents Nina Manigan, Rico Yatco, and their team of PDEA agents end up waging a small war of attrition with the elements of drug kingpin Biggie Chen's operation in the most difficult territory of the slums of Baranggay Gloria ni Maria (sp), Tondo. 





What unfolds is a pretty standard story of betrayal, cynicism, with a splash of human interest. There's not much to see, plot-wise, in BuyBust that you haven't seen in On the Job. Direk Matti has a penchant for recycling plot elements (plight of the urban poor, corrupt officials shafting the rank and file just trying to make a living, bittersweet redemption), and while the script is usually okay, it's not going to be winning any writing awards anytime soon. It's fun watching (Brandon) Vera act like a stereotypical tough guy with a good heart, a man of unyielding faith with very few words to say aside from the occasional kanto boy slur, but as with any great action film, it isn't the dialogue but the delivery that sells it. 

And that's probably the best part of the movie. The script, though clipped for the most part due to the emphasis for over-the-top action, is translated well by the film's ensemble cast, especially by bad guys boss Chongki and Biggie Chen, played by Levi Ignacio and Arjo Atayde, respectively. The cynicism for the system, both within the PDEA and within Brgy. Gloria ni Maria, is palpable throughout each talking scene, and the viewer can tell just how exhausted the characters are getting with each line of dialogue. 

The cinematography throughout the movie's a mixed bag, and not because of the choreography. For fans of The Raid, and maybe the original Blair Witch Project films, BuyBust's shaky camerawork might not be a bad thing. And it certainly does go a long way into setting the mood of the film; Niel Derrick Bion's cinematography captures the dizzying and claustrophobic world of Tondo's slum area. There are shanties everywhere you look, and the viewer can't help but feel trapped in each scene–it's a wonder that the PDEA team can move around surreptitiously in such an environment, equipped with high-caliber rifles and other gear, but that's where the suspension of disbelief comes in–and each open-air shot is like gulping a breath of fresh air before diving back into the shallows. 

There's plenty of action to be had, which is the whole point of this film. Tondo gets literally littered with bodies throughout the course of the movie, and it's a wonder that local authorities don't get involved sooner rather than later, but again, suspension of disbelief. Anne Curtis-Smith surprisingly delivers as agent Manigan, proving herself capable of handling both a knife, and a knife-wielding assailant or two, despite some of her movements seeming forced (unless that was the point of the scene at the time). But it is Vera's agent Yatco that truly delivers the juiciest action, whether it is flattening an opponent overhead with a motorbike, decapitating a housewife with a pair of garden shears, or simply tossing an assailant aside with a casual roundhouse kick. Matti's direction, and the cinematography, just loves all of the action sequences involving Vera. 

It's just too bad that the overall motif of claustrophobia in the film meant plenty of scenes were shot using hand-held cameras. Some of the more interesting sequences could have benefited from a less shaky shot, or one that wasn't off-center, but that's just nitpicking, since BuyBust arguably nails all of the important action throughout its two hours and seven minutes of runtime.

The biggest problem BuyBust experiences is that the overall cut for the theatrical release seems to have too many scenes cut out. It would be interesting to see a director's cut of the film to see if there's more exposition to be had–this could shine a little bit more light in the lives of the film's other fodder minor characters. But overall, the existing cut is complete in itself, and leaves little to the viewer's imagination. Don't come into the theater expecting a black comedy like Matti's previous work, though, since that's really not the point of BuyBust.