Maria (2019) - New Action Movie from Nilalang Director

[Mike Leeder]

Director Pedring A Lopez (Nialang/The Entitiy) and action director Sonny Sison (Buy Bust) are about to unleash the female driven action thriller MARIA

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by DragonClaws

[DiP]

Wow, this looks great! I wanna see this now.

[thekfc]

This looks awesome and I am down to see this in the theater.

Please note this is an Action Thriller and not a Martial Arts movie so do not mistake it for that.  Some folks did mistake action director Sonny Sison previous work (BuyBust) for MA when it was a Crime Drama/Action Thriller.

"Maria", "BuyBust" and "We Will Not Die Tonight (there in now a director's cut)" would make a nice triple feature viewing for me.

 

[sym8]

I thought buy bust was awful(had to turn it off)but this looks decent so will give it a go.

[ShaOW!linDude]

I'd watch this. There looks to be some nice choreography in it. Glad I skipped Buy Bust. That looked weak from the get go.

[DragonClaws]

 

 

 

[Drunken Monk]

Buy Bust was the worst film of last year for me so I'm wary of this one. Still, the trailer does make it look rather good so, hopefully, it'll be surprisingly good.

[DragonClaws]

 

More promotional art-work, featuring other cast members, in character.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2019 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[thekfc]

Streaming starts on Netflix on May 17th. 

I hope they give us the Tagalog soundtrack and not just an English dub soundtrack. With BuyBust, I was re-watching with the English dub (on disc) and had to switch back to the Tagalog soundtrack.

On a side note, Netflix have also picked up Anne Curtis other recent movie Aurora (which will start streaming on April 25th) as well as a bunch of other Filipino movies. It looks like Netflix is now targeting that country/audience before another company/service does.

[DiP]

Wow, more Filipino Cinema on Netflix? That's great!!! Gotta catch up with some movies that I weren't able to find anywhere, movies like the much hyped war biopic Heneral Luna and few of Erik Matti's recent movies.

As for this movie, I'm ready for May 17th!!!

Edited April 14, 2019 by DiP

[One Armed Boxer]

I recently got through watching this one, and can safely say it's the best Filipino action movie I've seen in a long time (well, admittedly there's not much competition, but still...).  I gave it the full review treatment over at COF - 

 http://cityonfire.com/maria-2019-review-pedring-lopez-filipino-action-martial-arts/

[KCN9NE]

Is this a Netflix exclusive? Or will this be available to purchase? 

[One Armed Boxer]

3 hours ago, KCN9NE said:

Is this a Netflix exclusive? Or will this be available to purchase? 

From my experience, a Netflix distribution deal is usually the kiss of death for a physical media release within those countries that it's secured the deal for.

[KCN9NE]

Looking forward to checking this one out tonight! It’s short. Less than 90 mins. So should be a quick watch 

[Drunken Monk]

As a warning, Netflix only has subtitles for the hearing impaired. I’m watching it now and everything is captioned - [lightning cracks], [pan sizzles] etc.

[laagi]

58 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

As a warning, Netflix only has subtitles for the hearing impaired. I’m watching it now and everything is captioned - [lightning cracks], [pan sizzles] etc.

My version had normal subs As for the movie it's a diamond in the rough.

A lot to like but also few things which are too disturbing to ignore. Weak; at points almost laughable female supporting roles, off-key soundtrack, lots of violence (torture) which is not bad to be honest but feels so out of place at the beginning. Also the mid as well as end fights are rather disappointing and can't hold up with some of the early scenes which are pretty damn awesome!

Overall the weight of the movie is carried by Christine Reyes and I have to admit she does so not only gracefully but also admirable. A bit more polish here and there and maybe one or two "fresh" ideas would have made this a great watch. For what it is, a welcome yet flawed return to Filipino action cinema. And it looks like there will be a part two...

[Drunken Monk]

I’d say don’t let the reviews fool you. Maria is amateur hour at best.

Hokey acting, terrible music, annoying characters and, most importantly, weak action. It honestly irks me that we let action films like this skate by. The choreography here is not good. Sure, there is some interesting camera work but there’s more than a few instances of awkwardly weak fights and people purposely missing people when throwing punches.

Is it good compared to the likes of Buy Bust? It’s a masterpiece. But that shouldn’t warrant praise. At the end of the day it’s fair-to-middling action film and instantly forgettable.

[laagi]

@Drunken Monk Interesting thoughts but too harsh for my taste. In my opinion Buy Bust had the higher production value but action wise Maria surpasses it any day. For what it is I enjoyed it! But again to each their own

Edited May 17, 2019 by laagi

[Drunken Monk]

1 minute ago, laagi said:

@Drunken Monk Interesting thoughts but too harsh for my taste. In my opinion Buy Bust had the higher production value but action wise Maria surpasses it any day. For what it was I personally enjoyed it! But again to each their own.

I agree with you. If there are people that can watch Maria (and Buy Bust) and enjoy it, I’m happy for them. Entertainment is subjective after all.

I guess this one just wasn’t for me.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Watched this last night. If I could described it in 1 word that also starts with the letter M, it would have to be...meh.

Dadgum, this movie is slow and boring. There's some bad casting in the supporting cast, such as the crime boss, who was just totally unbelievable in that role. As far as Cristine Reyes goes, I liked her okay. She's got this Jennifer Lopez look going for her. But I just didn't buy her as former assassin. The opening action sequence and the cat fight in the restroom were about the only relatively solid fight scenes in the movie. I just did not buy her in any of the others. She just didn't sell them to me.

I'll be glad when a woman with a few years of formal MA training gets cast in something like this with a good stunt crew and choreographer. We'll see something worthwhile then.

At least, I didn't drop any hard-earned money on this.

Edited May 21, 2019 by ShaOW!linDude

[D1 Ma]

I rather liked it. No doubt, the acting is atrocious, but I don't watch MA movies  for some great acting. Of course, it would be nice to see some great performances, interesting plot, but hey, you can't have everything in life/

Anywho. The plot is not original and been done to death, but fights are plentiful, albeit not all of them are equally good. We have 3-4 rather weak ones, but the rest, while not exceptional, are pretty decent. You got some handwork, knife action, use of environment, etc. Can't say the choreo was bad. Shootouts are pretty decent, too, slightly ruined by CGI blood, but at this day and age it's so common and widespread, that I can't blame the creators for that

Overall, I wasnt crazy about the movie, but I won't diss it. I even go as far as saying that I found it more enjoyable, than, let's say, Vengeance with Bennet(what a piece of crap that was!), Skin Trade or the recent MJW's vehicle The Hard Way, not mentioning the bunch of others