[Confession] MARIA
Here is the synopsis of the movie:
When a former BlackRose cartel assassin deliberately betrays them by refusing to complete her mission, the cartel orders her execution. Unbeknownst to them, she fakes her own death and is able to create a new life of her own. When the cartel discovers she is alive, the hunter becomes the hunted as she fights to get revenge on those who took her new life away from her.
Somewhere in Facebook before, I saw the trailer of MARIA (played by Cristine Reyes) and gained 'oohhhs' and 'aahhhs' whilst watching. The action-packed-revenge-thriller movie made audience head turn because the trailer was made on point. It named the goal. And it gave people a spark of hope that something good is brewing. It knew how to tease people.
Having seen it now, I was at first shookt that it was actually a Netflix film. And you know that Netflix has by far been generous in most of their production and story. So I had a great nod on the intro because I could see that every angle of the first few scenes were calculated and well-planned. Brava.
Anyway, the best I got from the movie were the Production design and cinematography. The Director knew what the modern vibe of cinematography works good and whatnot. I applaud Cristine because she can kickass bad guys without being cringy or exaggerate anything. A lead that can at least make you carry on with the movie. And also Sir Greg (played by Ronnie Lazaro), who we expect nothing but the best.
Now with the worst. The main villains are terrible. They're a pain in the eyes to watch. The awful script doesn't help that I suspect was in three languages--English, Tagalog and Ilocano--which may have contributed to the unevenness and awkward acting. The story has the most unnecessary torture and endless fighting scenes. The story MARIA oozes cliches. I'm not sure how many Kill Bills or John Wick they watched before doing this but the similarity is so eerie. It's a shame because MARIA could have been so much more. At ninety minutes long, MARIA is not a long film, but it does take nearly half its runtime to get into its stride, with the first half of the film filled up with unfinished ideas, it's torturing to show how bad the bad guys are and it just went on. I just can't.
Overall, MARIA isn't trying to reinvent the revenge thriller. The movie has its charms but not in a good faith, can I recommend it to others. Either we need to know how to balance the scenes, better action, or a stronger story. But don't worry, Philippines! the action movies you've been asking will come in fruition soon. This is a good start (along with Buybust). It will be a long road but we will get there!
My Rating:
Plot: 5.0/10
Acting: 6.8/10
Cinematography: 7.9/10
Characters: 7.6/10
Uniqueness: 3.0/10
OVERALL RATING: 6.0