Gandarrapiddo! The Revenger Squad: A Movie Review

A superhero – themed  film fused with both action and comedy that is set in the generation of millenials, the 21st century. A superhero film that is suitable for all ages, is family – friendly, and is a story composing of the characters' family and their secrets of within. 

The movie is entitled as "Gandarrapiddo! The Revenger Squad" and was recently released last Christmas 2017! The director for the film is none other than Joyce Bernal, and the writers who created such masterpiece are Enrico Santos and Juvy Galamiton as story writers, and Daisy Cayanan, Danno Mariquit, and Jonathan Albano as screenplay writers. The cast are some of Philippines' well - known artists: Vice Ganda as Gandarra, Daniel Padilla as Rapiddo, Pia Wurtzbach as Kweenie, and many other supporting artists as well. The story is revolving around the Revenger Squad and their big reveal about their superpowers when one of their youngest turns twenty – one and receives his very own share of superpowers.

The story begins with the original Revenger Squad (when Rapiddo still doesn't exist) on a battle against Madman and Mino (an evil villain who was somewhat trapped inside a mirror due to unexplainable events). The villains' captives were actually Gandarra's sibling Cassy, and Madman's only son (who will soon become Rapiddo). Cassy disagreed with her sibling on the idea of rescuing her, and was actually convinced that she and the villain were in love. A little while later, the heroes won. But there were incidences wherein one of the heroes, Professor Clean, has died; the sibling Cassy joined evil; and that Gandarra forgot her identity, resulting to amnesia.

Years have passed, and the heroes hide their identity and naturally involved themselves with ordinary citizens. They live like family, with Meme (who happens to be Gandarra, still with amnesia) and Chino (the villain's son, whom they adopted) as siblings. Meme would always disagree with Chino's decisions in his life, which angers the younger. At this, Chino went to a motorcycle racing event without Meme's consent (but soon learns about this), and there he met Cassandra (later revealed to be Cassy, Gandarra's sibling). Meme and the other heroes followed Chino, and also met Cassy, but of course with amnesia, Meme doesn't recognize her.

Days have passed, and Chino's birthday is nearing. The heroes were nervous, for they believed that once the younger turns twenty – one, his powers would be awakened. They need Gandarra back, so they sorted a plan to get her memories back. The heroes believed that to help Gandarra get her memories back, they need to bash her head to undo her amnesia, which they do apparently. But in doing so, (they repeatedly bashed her in the head) nothing happened for now. Later on, her memories were retrieved, but was disappointed at the heroes for hiding everything from her. They begin to talk about Chino and Gandarra spoke. She doesn't like the idea of Chino being a superhero along with them, so she forbid it.

Chino turned twenty – one, and yes, he got his superpowers, but hid it from the family. Not to his friends though, he showed them his power (super speed), and his friends supported him into becoming a hero, gaining the name Rapiddo. One day, he had a battle against a female villain named Kweenie (who was actually Cassy, teamed up with Mino), and there he met with Gandarra and the other heroes: Higopa, Flawlessa, Pospora, and Barna. Gandarra spared Kweenie's life, and Rapiddo teamed up with the Revenger Squad, without even knowing that they are his family.

Kweenie, who was actually Cassy, became confused as to why her sibling spared her life. This drew to a flashback of her life with Gandarra, who actually cared for other people more than her. And there she met Madman, convinced that they were in love. But after Gandarra defeated Madman, Cassy was angered, making her heart filled with hate with the intention of defeating her sibling. The flashback ended, and the film was set into the current event. She planned on being a victim, which then Chino saved her from it, and helped her inside his home. Inside, Meme and her had a heated argument, which resulted Cassy from leaving. Chino followed her, apologized on behalf, and told her that Meme had amnesia. Cassy realized this, and left. 

A little while longer, Chino soon learns of his true identity, and got angry at Gandarra. Because of hate in his heart, he teamed up with Kweenie and Mino into taking the main source of Gandarra’s powers, the Lipstick Spear. But Mino (after obtaining the Lipstick Spear) was released from the mirror and is now the most evil villain in the land. Chino realized his mistake, and along with Kweenie, fought against Mino. The Revenger Squad learned about this, and so they went out and tried to rescue them. The battle between the good and the bad began, and everything was on the news nationwide. Gandarra weakened, for half of her powers were stolen by Mino. She was lost in a trance, thinking she died, but was actually conversing with Professor Clean. As they converse, Professor Clean made her realize that it is not yet over, and that love can defeat everything that is filled with hate. At this, she awoke, along with her new and improved superpowers. Once again she defeated evil, reconciled with her sister Cassy, and protected the country. That is it, the end. Finally.

Things in this movie are just for laughs, even to the point of making everything corny or nonsense. Some would even say that parts of the film became parodies because of the jokes. Let’s take Chino (Daniel Padilla) for example, all his films with his lover Kathryn Bernardo were shown in the film. But instead of being with his actual partner, it was Meme (Vice Ganda). The film even used the term "Broke down the fourth wall". Just like when Daniel’s character learned about his true identity, he got mad at the Revenger Squad. He even pointed out his biological mother, Karla Estrada, making them not sticking to their own character in the film. And as being said before, this is a superhero movie that is fused with both action and comedy, but let’s just say that there were more comedy lines than those of action. 

Not to mention the acting, costumes, and camera techniques of the film. The acting was pretty good, they did a good job in portraying their character. As well as the costumes, the production did an incredible job in making the costumes. The colors of the costumes were correctly portrayed to the artist’s character. Like Gandarra for example, the costume was bright pink and blue combination, along with a lipstick spear. During the course of the film, you can see the different camera angles, techniques, effects, and the like. People observed that unlike before, the film has the same characteristics of an American film when it comes to camera angles and effects. The effects aren’t like before wherein you can obviously tell that it is fake or not. Definitely, the cinematography of Philippine movies are now taking a step forward to a new and improved version of cinema.

Overall, it's a great film. It is a story where the superheroes, under a hidden agenda, are all trying to protect what is most precious to them. Family is what makes them bound to each other, but as they go on to their secret missions, the dark secrets that they are hiding soon to arise and threatened to destroy everything that they truly hold dear. 

So if you want to have a good laugh, whether it's with your friends or family, just turn on this movie. It's guaranteed, this will definitely help in relieving stress while watching.