joel torre steals (on) the job from piolo and gerald

from start to end, joel torre owns on the job, erik matti's gritty crime-drama that made it to the prestigious cannes film festival for its directors' fortnight showcase in may this year. as a veteran killer-for-hire that is allowed to get out of prison to do his business, joel is scary, precise, pragmatic, determined, a wild animal hungry for a kill. but as a cuckolded husband and loving father, he is sympathetic, clumsy and sometimes pathetic. he is even funny in some scenes with his asinine assassin-trainee, played by gerald anderson.
joel, alongside senior actors joey marquez, william martinez, michael de mesa, lito pimentel, leo martinez (and even al tantay, who appeared briefly as joey's boss) all showed strong performances in the movie, eclipsing their younger, more popular co-stars, notably piolo pascual and gerald, who is, sadly, totally miscast in this film. another young star, rayver cruz is forgettable, his role can be written off and the movie won't suffer a bit.
joey marquez is perfectly cast as a policeman. he is funny, amiable, endearing, trustworthy, not the usual adjectives that you would use to describe our men in uniform.

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despite its indie feel, on the job is definitely a star cinema production. the presence of the production company's  prized stars-- pretty boys piolo and gerald -- plus a bevy of actors and actresses who are all staples in its movies as well as the shows of its television arm, abs-cbn, including the ravishing angel aquino and the now grown-up former child star shaina magdayao, only highlighted this fact.
then there are the expensive sets, complicated action scenes that required a number of extras, and you can just imagine the budget that goes in making this well-made movie, a refreshing one amid the string of stupid comedies, romcoms, love dramas, and the non-scary horror movies that usually populate the cineplexes all year round.
the main characters of the movie are an interesting mix of the good and the bad (and nothing in between) -- a hitman for hire who is being forced to retire by his boss, his trainee and sidekick who is eager to take  his place, his wife who is having an affair with another man. in another side of the fence, there is an aging but noble policeman who is having problems with his drug-addicted son, a corrupt politician and his idealistic son-in-law who is an officer of the national bureau of investigation, and a sinister former general who wants to try his dirty, guilty hands in politics.

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the story is simple. the retired general wants to wipe out those who know about his business and his involvement in it: hiring prisoners to kill anyone that his clients want. the general is a friend of the congressman, whose son-in-law is investigating the case of a recently assassinated drug lord with the help of the policeman. their investigation put them in close contact with the hired assassins, and lead them all the way to the lawmaker and the retired general.
as the young assassin under the tutelage of joel torre, gerald lacks the grit, the darkness, the fire that his character calls for (a less popular, less pretty star but better actor would have suited the role more). instead, what we see is his cockiness, his cool and confident demeanor inside and outside of the prison, as though he is playing a high school thug. his voice and accent are irritating too. acting side by side with the brillliant joel, gerald has no chance of ever matching joel's intensity, much more of stealing the spotlight from his more senior co-star, one of the most underrated actors in the local film industry.
the same can be said of piolo's ambitious, but righteous nbi officer. he is just too pretty, too well-dressed, too modelisque to be believable as an nbi agent (a top pma graduate, mind you, and a lawyer too. wanna top that?). even when he is brandishing a gun and chasing after the enemies of the law, you can't help but see piolo the heartthrob who has launched a million shrieks from fans, instead of the character that he plays. one scene showed him running after gerald, but he still looks as fresh as when steps out of the esquire, philippine edition, photoshoot, with nary a hair out of place and the shirt and jacket remain, well, well-pressed.
his soulful, sorrowful eyes, well-sculpted cheek bones, freshly-shampooed hair are so distracting.

oh well. but having said that, piolo is really gorgeous. in fact, he is the reason why i watched this movie because i missed seeing him on the big screen already.
the director sure knows this. the movie showed piolo, aside from carrying a gun and going after the bad guys, naked in some scenes, displaying his perfect body and nipples. he has some dramatic scenes too with shaina, who plays his wife. but their bed scene is really one for the books, with shaina matching piolo's enthusiasm.
gerald too has a bed scene and some body exposure. but he's not my type, so.

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i love the story. though there is nothing groundbreaking and original about it -- good cops going after bad, powerful people in the society has been told and retold countless times (watch any movie by fernando poe jr.),  most notably by hong kong directors, who are more adept at handling crime thrillers with edgy action sequences that starred the biggest names in the chinese film universe than their hollywood counterparts.
the infernal affairs trilogy, which was remade and reduced into one hollywood movie but failed to match the beauty, intensity, excitement, suspense of the original, comes to mind. then there is confession of pain, chungking express, all starring hong kong's top leading man, the suave and gorgeous tony leung.
in fact some scenes in the movie remind me of those hong kong crime thrillers, including the lady boss (played so very well by former sexy actress vivian velez) of the hired killers, who was obviously inspired by a character in chungking express, wong kar wai's beloved classic.

still, i love the action scenes (though the chase scene in the mrt between piolo and gerald is so predictable, it borders on boredom; unlike the more exciting one between joel and joey), the cinematography, the musical score, the locations that showed mostly manille's unglamourous side -- overcrowded, filthy, smelly, slimy squatters areas; as well as the overcrowded, filthy, smelly and slimy prison cells that resembled more like pigsties than one fit for human occupancy. i just hope that our corrupt politicians and their accomplices in the pork barrel scam will land in these cells soon. becasue that's where they belong, those pigs! (with apologies to the swines.)

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please watch it. it's one of the well-crafted, entertaining filipino movies shown this year apart from six or seven films that were showcased in the recent cinemalaya film festival. it is entertaining, even engrossing without insulting and stressing your intelligence.