Five on Friday: In the Name of Love

In the Name of Love

Yes, this is a review of that movie. Though it was Hana’s idea to watch this Aga Muhlach–Angel Locsin starrer, it was worth watching after all, at the very least. Let me sum up what I think about it in five bullet points.

  1. If like me, you’ve always wondered how Angel Locsin has been voted as the top Filipina in FHM Philippines’ 100 Sexiest Women in the World, then this is the apology for her winning it twice. I barely saw her as “sexy” before this film, and hardly “sensual” at all, but this will change everything. Somehow, she lets her hair down and lives up (quite spectacularly, I must say) to the hype. Her acting’s passable too. Surely Star Cinema (and ABS–CBN) is to credit for that.
  2. Aga Muhlach is a vampire. He doesn’t seem to age, except that he occasionally appears chubbier from time to time. In a few years, Igi Boy will look like his older brother for sure. In this film, he manages to play both his “current age” and his “7–years younger self” using just a bit of hair color to differentiate from them. There were moments of good, intense acting, and it’s nice to see one of our better actors go at it.
  3. Typical of recent Star Cinema love stories, the movie starts big, gets a little shallow right after, and ends with some drama. Or not. After the brief shallow parts, the story deepens and the plot thickens, with some good acting job from the movie’s lead stars. I would’ve accepted it if it ended right there, but to please the masa market, it just had to have a little more to the narrative and end up like a telenovela finale. The storytelling was good but a little ambitious, but I welcome it nonetheless since we rarely get that in Filipino films these days.
  4. I really think this film was first written as a tragedy, hence the use of the song (Where Do I Begin?) Love Story from the tragically–themed movie of the same name. Perhaps the more conclusive ending was added for commercial considerations? Besides, the overhead–camera/top–shot scene before the unneeded closing scene would’ve been the perfect conclusion for a tragic cliffhanger.
  5. I failed to catch who the film’s DoP was, but it was superb. Lighting was far better than what most local movies throw unto us, and the camera work was many times better. The CGI work for certain scene transitions was well done, except that it was overused as the movie got to the end.

Watch it! It got me a little teary–eyed because I’m such a crybaby; and yes, because of this Angel Locsin will again be #1 as FHM Philippines’ sexiest.

4 Responses

  1. a little teary-eyed? are you sure na “little” lang yun? :p

    wala bang spoiler alert? though subtle yung clues mo, spoiler pa rin :p

  2. 5x i watched this film and feel the same cry to death kasi i can relate to this film esp im also an ofw

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