I never really got into the movies directed by Dante Pangilinan; my impression of his films is that they are very unpleasant, awful, shallow, as well as being incredibly stupid, bland and mundane. After being subjected many times to the cruel torture of watching his celluloid atrocities, I have the nagging suspicion that maybe the guy is a reptilian/grey alien hybrid from another dimension, a grim omen of the impending biblical apocalypse, or that maybe he's actually the Antichrist himself.
Seriously, what made the financiers think Pangilinan was the right person for the job? The guy is most likely the Tommy Wiseau or Ed Wood of Filipino action films; at least, with Wiseau, you have fun laughing at the wondrous blunders onscreen, Pangilinan though gives no such relief but is a real depraved sicko. Sigue-Sigue Vs. Oxo, Bahala Na Vs. Sputnik, Totoy Golem, Junior Quiapo, Nestor Solis, the list goes on; all these movies suck for one reason or another, and because they lack any real sense of urgency or compelling narrative; they're just tedious exercises in major dumbassery. Pangilinan virtually has no clue on how to make a decent film (to be fair, I was mildly amused by the antics in an early film of his called Kuatro Kantos but that sadly did not live up to its full potential). Honestly, he should be directing comedy films because his movies are unironic, unintentional comedies.
"Oplan Baleleng" is just another example of Pangilinan's horrific work behind the camera and is a testament to his enduring reputation as an auteur of bad movies. A few minutes into the film, we witness a standard issue prison riot sequence at a Muntinlupa correctional facility; nothing out of the ordinary here, just another busy day in prison. It then cuts to a scene where after a rich chinese guy arrives at the airport, he is accosted by armed men in the middle of the road and brought to an undisclosed location in the province, where we see the boss bandit shoot a henchman. Jump to next sequence where this army guy played by King Gutierez, decides to form a special team to save the chinese guy and his daughter; because it's a suicide mission, they need to gather recruits from convicts in prison, as those are deemed expendable. Next scene is a gratuitously long ride inside a van where the recruits stare perpetually into empty space; several minutes of silence later, the sanctimonious atmosphere is broken by a generic exchange of dialogue. The recruits finally arrive at boot camp and the audience is treated to a montage of basic military training/ROTC 101.
From the above examples, we can see that Pangilinan is mind bogglingly inept in setting up and pacing a simple scene or sequence. The van ride sequence for example, could have been briskly shot under a minute or two and shouldn't have been unnecessarily extended. Not to mention the following training montage was also stretched far too damn long. Or maybe it wasn't entirely Pangilinan's fault; the editor of the film could have trimmed it down to its barest essentials, making it less of a drag to watch.
Regardless, the resulting finished product is of college level home movie quality; a scene in which recruits enter enemy territory, looks more like it was shot in someone's backyard. By comparison, a director like Manuel "Fyke" Cinco or Joe Balagtas could make a competent movie out of a shoe-string budget (This is what separates the greats from the fraudulent pretenders). Pangilinan is very surface level in his approach and is unable to conjure genuine tension or excitement from any of the scenes in his film.
In conclusion, watching a Dante Pangilinan movie is a horrible experience; it's like wading through a pit of horse excrement. The real tragedy here is that some people actually enjoy this garbage; now that is a really perplexing conundrum. It actually makes me lose faith in humanity.
