Filtered by: Showbiz
Showbiz

X44: Outdated but refreshing


Agent X44 Star Cinema Director: Joyce Bernal Cast:Vhong Navarro, Tony Ferrer, Pokwang, Mariel, Mura, Epy Quizon, Cassandra Ponti, Juliana Palermo, Uma Khouny, John Lapus Star Cinema’s New Year offering, Agent X44, is a recreation of the Tony Ferrer-starrer about a wannabe secret agent, King (Navarro), who gets assigned to solve a crime via the padrino system. Being the godson of the retiring top secret agent Tony Falcon, the original Agent X44 reprised by Tony Ferrer, he is tasked to retrieve the stolen bolo of Lapu-Lapu. Together with his sidekick Anton (Mura) and fellow agent Mary Grace (Mariel), King battles one evil force after another. Unfortunately, he always misses his chance to prove that he’s worthy of the assignment — he always loses the bolo. Of course, King later retrieves the bolo, proves that he deserves to become a real secret agent, and earns the trust of the agency’s head, NVI Director Cynthia (Pokwang). Agent X44 can be described in two words: outdated and refreshing. Outdated because it engages the audience with some of the old antics that have already been used and abused by comedians, especially by the film’s star, Vhong Navarro. Think of Navarro in D ‘Anothers or in the late-Rico Yan and Claudine Baretto starrer, Got to Believe. Bumenta na is how some of these antics could be described. It also tried to be an Austin Powers, probably the funniest and most commercially successful parody of the James Bond series. And this poses a problem for Agent X44. The exaggeration of characters, especially of the villains (John Lapus as an evil, gay, alien fashionista, and Epy Quizon as a Japan-obsessed performance artist), worked well for the film. In some scenes, Pokwang can be very funny, especially whenever she shows up with her costume changed. But since the viewers can see Pokwang almost every day on TV, her portrayal of the nose-haired head of the NVI is just very Pokwang. And this leaves the audience wanting more from the comedienne. On the other hand, it is refreshing to see on the big screen the use of performance art in place of computer generated effects for the fight scenes. It hilariously imitated Matrix inspired kicks and punches complete with bullet-time effects with the use of human puppeteers. Being a dancer, Navarro’s flexibility made him effective in these “fight scenes” — the most hilarious part of Agent X44. But what added a lot of attitude to the film are the characters’ costumes. John Lapus’s and Pokwang’s are the best. They look funny in their costumes even without speaking. Navarro’s, on the other hand, remained consistent with that of the original Agent X44 — an all-white suit and tie. Some of Mura’s outfits and makeup are also amusing. Although the film can boast of a good over-all production value, there’s still much to be desired with the latest Agent X44, especially in terms of upping the ante of Pinoy comedy. With Austin Powers as a benchmark, a sequel will need to do much more to make sure that everyone’s fancy is well-tickled. - GMANews.TV