Director: Erik Matti

Cast: Anne Curtis, Brandon Vera, Victor Neri, Arjo Atayde, Levi Ignacio, Nonie Buencamino, Lao Rodriguez, Joross Gamboa, Sheenly Gener, Mara Lopez, AJ Muhlach, Tarek El Tayech, Maddie Martinez, Ricky Pascua

Running Time: 126 min.

By Samson Kwok

Even though the year is only half way over, I already know that there is a very good chance that Filipino director Erik Matti’s BuyBust will be my favorite action film of 2018. Watching this film, I got the same sense of excitement as when I first saw Thailand’s Ong Bak, Indonesia’s The Raid and more recently, Cambodia’s Jailbreak. It features the same kind of crazy, real and dangerous action that is hard to find in Hollywood productions, where CGI can make anything seem possible but everything feels fake.

The story is simple: an anti-drug squad carries out a raid with the intention of capturing a notorious drug lord. If you think it sounds just like The Raid, you are right. However, while the basic premise of the story is very similar to the 2011 Indonesian hit, there are quite a lot of differences in the details; and instead of a rundown apartment, the drug boss here is ruling over a heavily populated slum. The battlefield is therefore larger, more chaotic and much more dangerous.

The lead character is drug enforcement agent Nina Manigan, played by actress Anne Curtis. She is part of the squad headed by Bernie Lacson (Victor Neri). There are a number of fellow team members and one of them is Rico, played by mixed martial artist Brandon Vera. The police have captured a lower level drug dealer Teban (Alex Calleja) and with his help, the squad set out to capture drug lord Biggie Chen (Arjo Atayde). Of course, things do not go as planned and soon the team is trapped inside the slum that resembles a maze and the members come under attack by hundreds of criminals headed by Chen’s right-hand man Boss Chongki (Levi Ignacio, The Hunted Hunter) and a group of angry civilians led by Solomon (Ricky Pascua), who has decided enough is enough. Soon the slum becomes a place of anarchy and the goal for the squad shifts from catching the bad guys to getting out of the place alive.

The action scenes in BuyBust are jaw-breaking for the cast and jaw-dropping for the audience. There are some inventive sequences that prove that when the situation is desperate, really anything could be used as a weapon. Reportedly, there were over 300 people in the stunt team and judging by the scale of some of the scenes, that does not come as a surprise at all. The main action sequences include the fights against Chongki’s gang, Biggie’s guards and Cocky’s crew, the tree ambush, the lightning fight, the war on Widow’s Alley and the rooftop battle. They are all superbly choreographed (by action director Sonny Sison), lensed (by cinematographer Neil Derrick Bion), edited (by editor Jay Halili) and scored (by composers Erwin Romilo and Malek Lopez). Stars Curtis and Vera both shine in the complex action scenes. I think the Widow’s Alley and rooftop mob fights will become classic fight scenes that generations of action fans will be talking about for years to come.

As usual, director Matti has a lot to say about corrupt cops and the government’s war on drugs and is not afraid to express his opinions here. All the anti-drug campaigns seem futile because at the end of the day, it is still the drug dealers who are running the country. It is the poor civilians who have to suffer at the hands of both the criminals and the police, and the film suggests that it is common for innocent people to lose their loved ones and their own lives. One particularly memorable scene shows a good man who wants to help but decides to hide behind closed doors when the law enforcement officials cannot guarantee his and his family’s safety.

BuyBust, which recently screened as the Closing Night Film at the popular and influential New York Asian Film Festival, will without a doubt turn Erik Matti into the best known Filipino filmmaker in the world. It is a mesmerizing piece of cinema that features brilliant action, crazy stunts and top-notch production values. This is action cinema at its very best and a must-see for every fan of the genre.

Samson Kwok’s Rating: 9.5/10