An action film with a relevant message

Now that there is a slump in the movies, the one genre most affected is action because it’s the most expensive to produce. Most action stars, in fact, are on an extended vacation and even Sen. Bong Revilla went comedy in his last movie.

The exhibition tomorrow of Batas Militar therefore should be a welcome treat for fans of action films. Starring Mark Lapid and Tanya Garcia, the film is about a good and dedicated soldier (Lapid) who is forced to launch his own battle against the corrupt in the military.

As a whole, the film (directed by Jess Lapid Jr.) is finely-crafted and should be appreciated by most moviegoers – but only if this were exhibited in the ‘80s. Yes, that is the problem with the movie. Its style is quite dated and still subscribes to what was fashionable in cinema in the mid ’80s – when leading ladies were the likes of Liz Alindogan, who is now cast as the mother of Mark Lapid.

But if only its style weren’t caught in a time wrap, Batas Militar is a good action film – with its action scenes well-tempered. Most local action films, sadly, go overboard and tend to be too violent just for shock effect. Fortunately, Jess Lapid Jr. is a disciplined enough director to know his limits.

What I like best about Batas Militar, however, is its very daring theme: corruption in the military – or how military officials smuggle out arms that are used for crimes committed by military men themselves. You and I know that this happens in real life and this is what we see in Batas Militar.

Finicky cineastes may not find Batas Militar to their liking because for sure you don’t see the ingenuity of modern filmmaking here and neither does it boasts of spectacular special effects you enjoy mostly in big-budgeted Hollywood action flicks. But you’d surely appreciate the very relevant social message contained in the film, which should be seen by the authorities concerned – and hopefully they will do something to solve this very serious problem facing our country today.

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Finally, I’ve seen Transamerica, the film where Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman is cast as a man who wants to be a woman.

The first time I heard about this movie was late last year – during the pre-Oscar nomination season and the buzz was that Felicity Huffman was a strong contender for Best Actress. Well, as we all know, the trophy went to Reese Witherspoon for playing June Carter to Joaquin Phoenix’s Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.

From that time on, I’ve always been intrigued by the film and Huffman’s performance as a man who wants a sex change.

Transamerica – it turns out – is not just about transsexuals. It is actually a road movie that moves from east coast to west coast. The character of Felicity Huffman starts out as a man who has a brief romance with a college sweetheart he (she?) impregnates, but isn’t told about it. Many years later, when Felicity is already a cross-dresser, she (he?) learns about the existence of a son (Kevin Zegers) who is obviously troubled. Now in his mid-teens, the boy works as a prostitute and his biggest ambition in life is to be able to go to Hollywood to do porn movies.

In the end, they are both able to do what they want. Felicity Huffman becomes the woman she had always wanted to be and Kevin fulfills his dream and becomes a featured player in a gay porno film.

The plot of this indie film is a bit odd and the character of Felicity is quite bizarre. But in time, you’d appreciate the movie (although it’s a bit slow in parts) and learn to love the film’s lead characters.

You’d also feel sorry for Felicity Huffman because she didn’t get the Oscar when she should have won for this film.

Although I became a big fan of Reese Witherspoon starting when I saw her in Election and became an even bigger follower of her films with Legally Blonde (the first one only – because the follow up was bad), I thought she was undeserving of her Oscar trophy. For sure, she wasn’t bad at all playing June Carter in Walk the Line. But it wasn’t a major, major role that was worthy of an Academy Award.

Oscar voters, however, were so impressed with Reese because she used her own voice in the singing parts and learned to play instruments for the movie. Plus the fact that, well, she’s Hollywood royalty.

As for Felicity Huffman, I salute her for giving justice to that very difficult role that she does so extremely well. After a while, you really forget that she’s the character you love in Desperate Housewives. In fact, she is so utterly convincing that you forget that she is a woman playing a man.

She may have lost in the last Oscar race, but surely a great actress like her would still have several chances at an Academy trophy.