6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An anti-drug enforcement agency stages a massive drug bust on a slum in Manila, only to get ambushed by a merciless drug lord and his henchmen, and dragging angry civilians in the process.
Starring: Anne Curtis, Victor Neri, Brandon Vera, Mara Lopez, Arjo AtaydeForeign | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Filipino (Tagalog): DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
BuyBust is one of the rare Well Go USA Blu-ray releases that contains some significant bonus material (detailed below in the Supplements section of the review), and one of the extras is a more or less thirty minute “making of” piece which contains some interesting interviews with co- writer and director Erik Matti. Matti mentions in one of these interviews how the spark of the idea for BuyBust was actually ignited when Matti was working on another film, and he and his crew found themselves in a potentially dangerous public place that had no easy egress, and Matti started wondering how the heck he and his assembled multitudes were going to get out of there if chaos ensued. In this particular case, the “trapped” people are Drug Enforcement Agents in the Philippines who attempt to infiltrate a so-called barangay in Manila, only to find themselves in what amounts to a labyrinth from which it is more or less impossible to escape. BuyBust has a visceral intensity that is rare for even typically adrenaline fueled films in “drug war” subgenres, though it fritters away some of its momentum with a presentational style that favors “shaky cam” theatrics, as well as a certain tendency to revisit action set pieces which tend to blend into one another after a while.
BuyBust is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I haven't been able to track down any authoritative technical data on this film, but it has the typical sleek and sharp appearance of digital capture, which I assume was finished at a 2K DI. As can perhaps be gleaned from some of the screenshots accompanying the review, things tend to get downright psychedelic at times, with whole sequences bathed in tones of green, red and blue. Those choices, combined with the aforementioned "shaky cam" aesthetic, can lead to a loss of fine detail at times, though commendably when cameras are a bit more stable even in less than optimal lighting things improve considerably. Some of the outdoor material pops rather well, despite a kind of slate gray grading. This film has an almost appalling number of people shot through their heads, and some of the close-ups are on the disturbing side. As can be seen in screenshot 19, there's also a "countdown" clock of sorts that run interstitially between selected scenes. Aside from the typical bugaboo on some production mastheads that seems to be unavoidable on a lot of Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, there isn't any major banding to complain about on this release.
BuyBust contains extremely forceful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes ostensibly in either Filipino or English, but with the Filipino track itself
often lapsing in and out of English at a moment's notice (some characters will spout some of their dialogue in Filipino and other parts of that same
dialogue in English, kind of interestingly). I noticed no real difference in amplitude or overall mix between the two languages. The film is awash in
LFE, both courtesy of sound effects and some washes of what sounds like synth pads, and there are some extremely effective pans with regard to
these elements. The cacophony of the slum the PDEA forces find themselves trapped in also provide a glut of consistent surround activity. While
some dialogue snippets tend to get just slightly lost in the sonic chaos, the overall mix is extremely aggressive and rather impressive a lot of the time.
Note: As this review is going live, our database specs need to be updated, but there is also a Filipino Dolby Digital 2.0 track on this disc, for
the record.
BuyBust is often explosively visceral, and it manages to work in a rather fascinating sociopolitical element that is often missing from action thrillers. The story is downright disturbing, and often graphically violent, but for those willing to wade through the morass of gunshots and hand to hand combat, the underlying issues are provocative and well handled. Technical merits, especially audio, are strong, and BuyBust comes Recommended.
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