BuyBust - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

BuyBust

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
It’s hard not to draw comparisons to Erik Matti’s BuyBust to films like Dredd or The Raid , as they share a similar situation, and similar amounts of sheer over the top blood and action violence. We’re subject to a group of Philippine DEA agents getting caught in a bad situation, only to have to hack, slash, shoot and otherwise blow their way out of the tin roofed shantytown in order to survive. The major differences are that Matti doesn’t have the same kinetic energy with BuyBust that those other two films have, and the sheer length of the film is spent interjecting black wholes of plot exposition that just slow down the already sluggish pace of the film.

The film revolves around Philippine DEA agent Nina Manican (Anne Curtis) and a special mission to capture a big time drug dealer named Biggie Chen (Arjo Atayde). Manican is a bit like your typical hard nosed cop, and is having big time trust issues with her colleagues as she is recovering from having her old narcotics team wiped out by a mysterious double agent. Sent in to grab Biggie and capture the him, they are set up by this same mysterious double agent, and left for dead in the poor shantytown district. Seeing the war between the cops and drug dealers as nothing but two sides of the same coin, the poor populace is infuriated at the same old results. No matter if it’s cops, or if it’s the dealers, they end up with dead family members and endless funerals. Grabbing every weapon they can think of, the horde of raging civilians descends on the cops as the DEA agents desperately try to fight their way out of the tin roofed alleys and streets and get to safety.

BuyBust is not just an action film, but a political statement at that. Right now Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is engaging in a brutal war on drugs (some might say a bit TOO brutal) ,and Matti is an outspoken dissident of their president’s actions. The film itself may not come out and say it straight up, but the violence and actions of the poorer folks in the shantytown is a political middle finger to Duterte and the violence that he brings to the community. At the same time, as with most political statements, there is some openings for interpretation. While some might claim that BuyBust is showing how the disenfranchised are tired of a police force who is over militarized, it can also be seen through the lens of what happens when criminals like Biggie Chen are left to roam free. They set up themselves as a cancer in the community and feed upon the people, interjecting them as human shields against prosecution and capture. Not to mention turn peaceful societies into ones who will murder at the drop of a hat. So while the film is obviously trying to take a stand against the mob rule that Populist President Duterte formulates, it can be seen from a few different angles as well.

BuyBust may have a political bent, but that’s not why I’m kind of on the fence about the movie. The politics make for some decent commentary fodder as an outsider, and the premise for the film’s “body count” style of movies made me really excited to see it. I’m a HUGE fan of both The Raid films, as well as Dredd, so I was a little disappointed at the lack of creativity and choreography with the film making. BuyBust shares none of the pulse pounding action and incredible hand to hand combat scenes that the other mentioned movies share. The fight choreography and direction from Matti is very sluggish, and makes an emphasis on sheer brute force vs. skill and well done cinematography. Matti uses quick cuts and long angle shots to make his fight scenes, and these strange angles do very little to benefit the film. Not to mention the actual fight choreography is very basic and by the numbers. The moves are slow and methodical, and you can actually almost count the choreographed beats in your head as each and every punch is set up and delivered. Which is especially sad since the hulking fighter Brandon Vera has a couple of fight scenes that COULD have been epic, but instead felt weak and mewling instead of powerful and roaring.

Manigan is probably the best part of the film, as they make something more than just a Ripley clone. She has a soul, a conscience, and you get to see a little bit on how she works in this structure of cops vs. drug dealers. My only complaint with her is that she doesn’t LOOK the part of rough and tough cop. Her fight scenes make it very obvious to the viewer that she doesn’t have a whole lot of fight choreography time, as her punches looked pulled, and you doesn’t seem to exude the strength that a person of her character and temperament should give off.

One of the neatest little story telling and mood setting tricks of the entire film is the use of the music. Matti employs a various repertoire of musical styles, each one uniquely different and cut just for that certain scene. These styles range from Baroque, Spaghetti Western, and even Reggai and rock. If you watch closely you can see how each one fits into the plot, and crafts the tone for what we’re about to see next (for example, as the DEA agents are descending upon their “unsuspecting” target there’s this Spaghetti Western tune playing in the background, amping things up for the inevitable showdown. And during the initial escape the heavy and chaotic rock music is congruent with the hectic and rage filled chaos of the populace trying to enact revenge upon the cops for bringing more violence into their community).




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Well Go USA serves up a very nice looking transfer by most standards. Some of the limitations of the picture are source related vs. encode related, but overall BuyBust is a nice looking 2.35:1 AVC encoded disc. The film is filmed at night, with digital cameras, and the only lighting being the ambient yellow lighting form cheap street lights. Surprisingly, with all that going against it, the film looks rather good. There’s a yellowish hue to the color grading, with hints of black and earth tones thrown into the bunch, but clarity is really good, as we’re privy to see every bit of blood, grime and torn flesh that happens to our heroes and villains. Black levels can be a bit washed out with the yellow hue, but there’s minimal banding and the overall detail and clarity level is more than agreeable.







Audio:

Well Go USA gives us a pair of audio tracks to listen to, both in 5.1 DTS-HD MA, and both in English and Filipino. The English track is pretty good, but feels a bit weak in the LFE and the dialog is pretty atrocious for a dub. The native language track is the one that I’m really focusing on here though, and it is a bit of a strange bird. Right off the bat I noticed that the LFE channel is hot. I’m not talking hefty and powerful, I’m talking SUPER hot, with midbass levels that are off the charts overcooked. The dialog and the sound effects for the battles are fairly evenly balanced, but the bass simply overwhelms the entire mix. I had to turn down my sub a good 3 DB’s on the LFE channel alone. Dialog is also all over the place. It seems that they captured the audio right at the ground level, with very little touch up in a sound booth. Depending on the location that the tightly cramped quarters give us the dialog can literally go up and down in volume. One camera will have a higher capture level than another, giving us very uneven volume levels for the vocals. The surrounds are one of the most active I have ever heard in an action film, but they are also cooked at such a level as to be almost on the same volume level as the mains! This lends to some really neat surround effects when the agents try to escape, but it can also be a distracting as you can literally hear voices coming out of the surrounds that are at the same level as the center channel. It’s an odd mix for sure, and while I like the aggressive nature of the track, I’m also rather put off by how unbalanced it is by traditional standards.




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Extras:

• Making of Featurette
• Comic Con Panel 2018
• Original trailers

Final Score: ​

BuyBust has a lot going for it, but also quite a few negatives as well. The political commentary and hyper action violence ala Dredd and The Raid make for some fun action sequences, but the lack of really good choreography and several dead spots throughout the film create a bit of a downer as well. As such I’m really torn about the film. I like aspects of it, but am just as turned off by other aspects. The Blu-ray itself is pretty solid, with good video, but a really strange audio mix that is kind of distracting. Extras are sparse, as is the case with many of Well Go USA’s Asian films, so I’m more inclined to give this a rental to see how you like it rather than a solid recommendation, or a thumbs down.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Anne Curtis, Brandon Vera, Victor Neri, Arjo Atayde, Levi Ignario
Directed by: Erik Matti
Written by: Anton C. Santamaria, Erik Matti
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0, Filipino DTS-HD MA 5.1, Filipino DD 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 127 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 16th 2018

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Rental

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Curious on this one so will see if it is available on amazon prime/netflix.