Ang Panday 2017 is one of the year's Most Anticipated Filipino Film, and it stars Coco Martin as Flavio III a.k.a. Ang Panday and Jake Cuenca as Lizardo. This movie is all about Flavio the III (Coco Martin), the grandson of Flavio Sr. (Fernando Poe Jr.), and the son of Flavio Jr. (Jeric Raval) who was adopted by Rosa (Gloria Romero) after an incident happened right after Flavio III was born.
I'm going to the "Pros" and "Cons" for this movie because the movie isn't that bad. There are some elements to it the kind of hooked me into it and made me hyped for this reincarnation of Panday.
PROS:
First, the action scenes are top-notch. Especially the sword fighting scenes in this movie will somehow get you on the edge of your sit. It won't let you down and it every action fight scenes seemed to payoff. Second, the VFX. My God! We are almost on the verge of improving Filipino's use of VFX. CGI are somehow kind of unnoticeable except during close ups. The CGI wouldn't bother you that much, not unless if you pay close attention to it...
CONS:
My God, this is going to be long. First, my problem is Flavio III's love interest Maria (Mariel De Leon). Don't get me wrong, I love Maria De Leon. She is nice, warm, and a beautiful woman. But her acting in this movie really bothers me. She is bland, uncharismatic, and useless. I mean, she doesn't contribute anything to the movie. She was just there to be Flavio's love interest and that's it! We didn't get much of a backstory from her, or some character development. She was just there maybe because Coco Martin wants her to be there. Second, there are too many characters. I know, this is the very first film that Coco directed and I will give him a pass for this. But my suggestion is, the next time he makes a movie, I want him to lessen the amount of cast in his film. This movie feels overcrowded. We are introduce to this cast of characters that doesn't have anything to do with the plot or doesn't have anything to do with the protagonist's character arc. There are these kids who I think wasn't suppose to be there because they've done nothing, these elves that I think just there for the kids I think, and so much and so forth. They put a lot of effort into hiring these actors but they didn't put attention on what are their role in the movie is going to be. Third, is clumsy editing. I want you to go see this movie, and tell me how many times you see a camera through reflection, or some movie props in the background. Fourth, poor character development. Flavio's role in this movie doesn't live up to what a Panday has to be. Majority of the film, Flavio is a dick to everyone. Like literally. He was just given a task because of his bloodline and just accepts his fate for no vast reason. I wish they could've gave him a motivation on why does he have to care about the people. Fifth, Jake Cuenca as Lizardo. I saw an interview of Jake Cuenca in "Tonight With Boy Abunda" and he mentioned that he took inspiration from Jared Leto's Joker. Well, wrong choice Jake. I love Jake Cuenca, I think he is a very terrific actor. I think he will be a veteran anytime soon. But he is poorly directed in this movie. His Lizardo is something I would describe as exaggeration. Lizardo's gestures and tone of voice here is so cringeworthy. There is no feeling of danger when he is in a certain scene. You wouldn't feel that this is Panday's greatest foe. I wish Jake Cuenca kind of toned down Lizardo a little and it'll work out.
This film is nothing but "Ang Probinsyano" that has a Fantasy genre and nothing but an all-out mess of a movie. Too many subplots and too many characters. If I would grade it by letter, I would give it a "D-"...
