Manila Kingpin: The Untold Story of Asiong Salonga : Movie Rant

I’m a sucker for movies that contain actors who’ve been in the industry when I was a little kid or earlier, so it should not come as a surprise that I loved this movie. 

I was worried at first that it wouldn’t be a good movie because it stars a politician, and well, I’ve not much confidence in them. I was glad to be proven wrong. Still, the reason I loved the movie so much is the group of other actors they cast. Jeorge Estregan was great, but the real bait for we were every one of his antagonists. I don’t think I need to mention any of them, they were great before, and they were still great now. Those are the actors who are worthy of the name.

Production-wise, I thought it was a good idea to shoot it in B&W. Everything felt as if it was made in the early days, and quite frankly, I think that’s the reason why the movie worked so well. Old movies, like old songs, can still kick butt, and to form a new movie from that skeleton, throw in actors who actually act, and use a timeless story of good and bad, and you’ve got a pretty good movie. But I will admit, I couldn’t help check to see if they missed anything and used props from our time, and when I saw an Emperador Brandy bottle, I kept wondering if that was in the correct time or not.

There was something that felt off through-out the whole movie. Their continuity and sequencing felt a little odd, like there was something wrong or something new, but I couldn’t quite place it. Their scenes felt like they were cut so immediately and then pieced together, yet nothing was missing. It almost felt like I was watching a movie trailer that played the duration of a whole movie, and told a complete story.

Anything negative about the movie was quickly subdued by the feeling of happiness though. It was like when you like a movie so much  just don’t care if it sucked or not, in the end you still like it; well, that’s how it was for me. Good thing it was actually pretty good so I don’t feel guilty.

Definitely worth a watch, especially if you miss the old days when you don’t cringe in front of the screen because of the really obvious ‘acting’.