54
188
11
The Butterfly
Tornado Alley
This review may contain spoilers
"You are death!"
Maria tread over familiar revenge movie ground, not adding anything particularly innovative. For those who watch action and martial arts films such as Kill Bill, The Villainous, or La Femme Nikita you'll be able to call out what will happen next with little difficulty. Still, I did find this film entertaining even if it didn't offer anything new to the genre.
Lily/Maria had been a trained assassin working for Kaleb and the De La Vegas crime family. After she refused to kill two innocents, she faked her death and "retired". A few years later she's enjoying her life with a husband and daughter. Kaleb discovers she's still alive when he's tasked to kill an incorruptible governor. He's in a Cain and Abel relationship with another killer working for the family who wants his spot in the hierarchy. A standard revenge trope later and Maria is on a rampage. I truly wish writers would be more innovative when writing for women assassins, most of these movies are incredibly similar and use the same tired paradigm set decades ago.
The movie utilized Filipino martial arts and knife fighting as well as plenty of gun action. The fights were well choreographed but not extraordinary. What I liked about the various confrontations was that there were few extended fights with any rival, Maria competently took out the bad guys in a precise and efficient manner.
For those who are squeamish, there were several gruesome torture scenes and plenty of blood spurting with the fights. Despite the provocative poster there was no nudity only one shower scene where no bits and parts were on display.
Christine Reyes was credible as both the happy homemaker making sure everyone ate a healthy breakfast and the cool, calculating assassin. The rest of the cast were capable, but not memorable. For the most part, Maria wore sensible rampage clothes. Often directors dress female assassins provocatively to lure or appease male viewers. There was a club scene where she wore a sexy dress and ridiculously high heels. The actress seemed to have trouble walking on the thin heels, I would have broken an ankle. I was pleased that she went back to pants and sensible shoes for kicking and chasing down her enemies. The crime family's female assassins were more scantily clothed. Win some, lose some. Lastly, the score was properly edgy for all the death and mayhem.
I've watched several Filipino films, and Maria had the best production values of the lot. There was a nice use of color and light. The fight scenes didn't seem to have a high budget, but it didn't appear cheaply made either.
While the movie was predictable, Maria was a worthy assassin to add to the female cadre of action "heroes". Also, it was nice to see a Filipino film embracing the world of badass female leads. Next time maybe they can be the one to break the mold that most countries are content to use repeatedly.
4/15/23
Lily/Maria had been a trained assassin working for Kaleb and the De La Vegas crime family. After she refused to kill two innocents, she faked her death and "retired". A few years later she's enjoying her life with a husband and daughter. Kaleb discovers she's still alive when he's tasked to kill an incorruptible governor. He's in a Cain and Abel relationship with another killer working for the family who wants his spot in the hierarchy. A standard revenge trope later and Maria is on a rampage. I truly wish writers would be more innovative when writing for women assassins, most of these movies are incredibly similar and use the same tired paradigm set decades ago.
The movie utilized Filipino martial arts and knife fighting as well as plenty of gun action. The fights were well choreographed but not extraordinary. What I liked about the various confrontations was that there were few extended fights with any rival, Maria competently took out the bad guys in a precise and efficient manner.
For those who are squeamish, there were several gruesome torture scenes and plenty of blood spurting with the fights. Despite the provocative poster there was no nudity only one shower scene where no bits and parts were on display.
Christine Reyes was credible as both the happy homemaker making sure everyone ate a healthy breakfast and the cool, calculating assassin. The rest of the cast were capable, but not memorable. For the most part, Maria wore sensible rampage clothes. Often directors dress female assassins provocatively to lure or appease male viewers. There was a club scene where she wore a sexy dress and ridiculously high heels. The actress seemed to have trouble walking on the thin heels, I would have broken an ankle. I was pleased that she went back to pants and sensible shoes for kicking and chasing down her enemies. The crime family's female assassins were more scantily clothed. Win some, lose some. Lastly, the score was properly edgy for all the death and mayhem.
I've watched several Filipino films, and Maria had the best production values of the lot. There was a nice use of color and light. The fight scenes didn't seem to have a high budget, but it didn't appear cheaply made either.
While the movie was predictable, Maria was a worthy assassin to add to the female cadre of action "heroes". Also, it was nice to see a Filipino film embracing the world of badass female leads. Next time maybe they can be the one to break the mold that most countries are content to use repeatedly.
4/15/23
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