There is some crossover with Matti’s first “On the Job” movie, particularly in the person of cop Joaquin Acosta (Joey Marquez) who even in that earlier film was dedicated to exposing the practice of manipulating prison inmates - who are often inside for far more minor crimes - into becoming political assassins for hire. But if you’re going to paint an ever-broadening, multi-level, practically dynastic portrait of a whole interconnected system of political, judicial, social and penal gangsterism, who better to emulate? That beat is often a familiar one: The Scorsese influence is unmistakable, especially in the use of incongruously cheerful or romantic pop tunes (often Tom Jones covers as a nice little running gag) to soundtrack moments of high peril or violence.
#ON THE JOB THE MISSING 8 TV#
And though Matti can be a little undisciplined in deploying showy techniques - “24”-style split-screens, rather ugly montages of social media chatter, newspaper headlines, TV reports and so on - after a rather confusing blizzard of information up top, Jay Halili’s editing soon settles into its rhythm. “On the Job: The Missing 8” is long but it uses its length wisely, to ever more absorbing and enriching effect.
Only one of the killers seems to show any hesitance: Roman (Dennis Trillo), shaggy of mullet and spectacularly broken of nose, at first seems little more than a cog in the movie’s vast machinery, but will later come to play a key role in the newly engaged, grieving and disillusioned Sisoy’s campaign to find the bodies and to make those responsible answer for their crimes. In a cruel twist of fate, Arnel happens not to be alone when his assassins find him, and eight people in total, mostly newspaper staffers but also Arnel’s 8-year-old son, are murdered that night, their bodies hidden. On the same night he throws a lavish party at which the clueless Sisoy is prevailed upon to sing karaoke, Eusebio orders Arnel’s murder, to be carried out by a hit squad assembled from the inmates of the local prison. Since the paper has become known for publishing regime-critical stories - often written by crusading journo Weng (Lotlot De Leon) - it has attracted Eusebio’s attention. His support for Eusebio has caused a rift between Sisoy and his erstwhile best friend Arnel (Christopher De Leon), who now runs the struggling newspaper the pair co-founded back in Sisoy’s more idealistic days. On his brash radio talk show, he is known for vociferously defending even the most suspect policies of La Paz’ Machievellian mayor Pedring Eusebio (an excellent Dante Rivero). This man is Sisoy Salas (played in a deceptively shrewd, moving performance of integrity gradually winning out over bluster, by John Arcillo) a local celebrity in the municipality of La Paz.
It also plays somewhat like a 209-minute dolly zoom: As the aperture widens on the intensely corrupt landscape of a society under strongman leadership (Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte’s name is never mentioned, but the ruthlessly suppressive tactics he is known to employ are everywhere), the focus also narrows onto one man’s painful ethical reawakening.
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