By Joseph L. Garcia, Reporter
Movie Review
Topakk
Directed by Richard Somes
WE’VE never been a huge fan of action films, but for this movie, we might just change our minds. Topakk (international title: Triggered) is full of gore and senseless violence: but only because our world is filled with it too. The film had made its rounds at the Cannes and Locarno Film Festivals (among others), and if it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for us. The film also won the Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial Award for Excellence, and the Jury Prize Award at this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival Awards’ Night (we’re sure the Best Float award didn’t hurt either).
Arjo Atayde plays the lead in this film (produced by Nathan Studios, owned by his family, but hey, it worked), an ex-soldier reeling from PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) after his good-looking troop was murdered by a rebel group (I don’t use the description “good-looking” lightly, model and actor Enchong Dee had his neck slashed in this scene). Mr. Atayde’s character, Miguel, was the lone survivor. An early scene where a famous actor gets disposed of so violently definitely shocks — the same effect was achieved by Drew Barrymore in Scream, and Janet Leigh in Psycho. It establishes that no one is too pretty or too special here: if you die, you die.
Miguel wakes up day after day in a dingy Manila apartment, haunted in dreams by this scene. He takes up a job in security and is tasked to watch over an abandoned warehouse filled with flammable materials.
In another character arc, Weng Diwata (played by Julia Montes) once played with the wrong side of the law. In the fringes of drug cartels with her brother, she agrees to make one last delivery (but only after watching someone get shanked with a screwdriver). Sweaty but still pretty, and more than a passable actress with her quick delivery, she wins us over on her side.
Meanwhile, the cops led by Sid Lucero, playing mononym officer, Romero, plan a drug bust (in the same den Weng Diwata’s currently approaching). Mr. Lucero (screen name, he claims descent from the Eigenmann acting powerhouse dynasty) takes command of a scene with a few words and The Lord’s Prayer. He barely said five syllables and my ears already perked up — this man is good.
The drug bust commences (a drug lord stuffs cadavers with drugs; they’re fronting as a morgue). The cops turn out to be in cahoots with the dealers, and they’re all scrambling to protect a certain mayor (who later appears at the crime scene with the press, wearing pearls and heels), who benefits from their deals. The cops renege on their deal with the dealers, and a bloody firefight ensues — Weng Diwata and her brother survive, but are injured. They take refuge in Miguel’s warehouse.
I wasn’t going to say it, but we thought Mr. Atayde was a little bit too good-looking for the role. There was a scene in the beginning where his fellow soldier’s widow angrily turned him away, and it looked like a commercial for soap. We withdrew that thought during the action sequences, where Mr. Atayde’s supposed to garner sympathy and show vulnerability. The cast isn’t short on good looks, so there has to be a marker that we should root for the guy with puppy-dog eyes, even if he’s trying to kill someone with a fan rotor.
The film’s a bit too dark, and we’re not talking about the mood. The lighting and the general air make the film look soupy, sticky; approaching a fever dream (we’d like to think this is a deliberate choice, and not a punishment for going to an older Quezon City cinema). The film is high in style: the scene in the funeral home is top-notch in aesthetics and we take some satisfaction that people in Cannes saw Filipino talent in set design. The film doesn’t shy away from artistic shots: there’s one of Mr. Atayde soaking in blue light, while a giant fan’s shadow spins over him, while he’s pointing a gun. This one shot alone could go toe-to-toe with several in the genre, and it might just win.
All the action happens in one night, and all in the warehouse Miguel’s supposed to watch over (and ends up wrecking). The cops chase Weng Diwata and her brother, witnesses to their extra-judicial killing (I have not had to type that line in years, thank God), and Miguel, claiming his jurisdiction over the warehouse (as well as a belated lament over his fallen comrades) protects the pair with a snap decision and a psychotic break. Meanwhile, the cops turn on each other, so it’s a gore-fiesta at some point.
We mentioned that Miguel has tried to kill someone in this film with a fan rotor, and we’ve mentioned executions via screwdriver. Guns aren’t the only currency in this movie, and we saw deaths through swords and saws throughout this night of violence. Romero even plays (and kills) with a flamethrower at some point, and we like to commend the production for kill-creativity (the movie has an R-rating for a reason). The film has a runtime of almost two hours, but quick pacing almost made us forget that. The movie ends with hand-to-hand combat in the rain, with almost zero dialogue.
It’s one of the better action films to come out in recent memory. You might think you can bring your bros here for a night of testosterone-fueled fun; but you’ll be bringing them to an evening of nihilistic death instead — showing the disposability of human life in a war (a drug war in this film, to be exact). The violence is senseless, but it’s no fun: perhaps because we’ve seen this in the news “played” straight.
MTRCB Rating: R
