TOPAKK Comes Home for MMFF 2024

It was hot, humid, but everyone was in a celebratory mood over at the TOPAKK press conference in Quezon City. Greeted by a different sounding Basti Artadi performing on stage, I was like "Wow!" because of how b4d 4$$ it was, it felt like a dream for me. Then they started the presscon.

We had the pleasure of actually being on location when they shot TOPAKK in Rizal for the finale scenes. Just looking at it back then, I knew this was going to be something special because it will bring back a genre that was sorely missed, plus we get to see multi awarded actors on screen like Cong Arjo Atayde, Julia Montes, Sid Lucero, Enchong Dee and Kokoy de Santos. 

They also had Levy Ignacio, Bernard Palanca, Paolo Paraiso, Vin Abrenica, Cholo Barretto, Julio De Leon, Ivan Carapiet, Jeffrey Tam, Gerard Acao, Michael Roy, veteran character actress Ms. Maureen Mauricio, Elora Espano, Claire Ruiz, Anne Feo, Bong Cabrera, Manu Respall, Rosh Barman, Victor Medina, Ivan Rivera, Ian Lee, Nico Dans, Yian Gabriel, Raquel Pareno, Precious Laingo, Kayley Carrigan and Geli Bulaong to complete the ensemble cast for this film. Mind you, this has been showcased and raved about in different film festivals internationally. This year, it's going HOME to the Philippines and will be shown on the 50th Anniversary of Metro Manila Film Festival. This feels like fate to say it frankly.

Direk Richard Somes is one heck of an action film director. The quality is certainly for international consumption, and he didn't shortchange with regards to set design and hard knocking scenes. What's a bit of a let down though is the rating because this is R18 outside SM Cinemas while those who want to see it in SM can do it on an R16 rating. This has heavy fight scenes and very bl00dy encounters so we kinda understand why it's rated that way. Though I would suggest you do the R18 version so you could get the full experience of the movie. Don't worry though for the R16 because you will still learn and get the story.

Nathan Studios producer Ms. Sylvia Sanchez isn't worried about it though because they're giving movie goers real good options. Aside from Nathan Studios, they are working with Fusee and Strawdogs as producers for this project. Hopefully to make more of these (a sequel no?). Some of the people who saw the movie that evening told me this is a material where Julia Montes really excelled, though she's been doing action stuff on Coco Martin's TV series, she is more hands on in the scenes. She's going to be in really physical fight scenes which she's never done before. This is more raw, and Julia with Arjo means it's got emotional scenes will be there. They also had the army spokesperson at the press conference praising them about how they portrayed the Filipino soldiers, TOPAKK will certainly be a good thing to watch if you're thirsty for action films this year.

This is the opportune time for you to watch TOPAKK, it's international release name is Triggered. You've got to see why critics have been raving about it. Hopefully, this picks up awards in this festival too!