When a new trailer of a Filipino movie shows up whether it's horror,comedy or love story, i could always hear the comments "I ain't gonna waste my time watching that crap" or "I can see that it is corny" and the worse
"I only watch foreign movies".
I can usually see that Filipino has colonial mentality in which they rather prefer foreign products than the products made in the Philippines. In the case of the movie industry, some citizens in our country would rather choose watching a Hollywood film or a Korean movie over Filipino movies. And i wonder why this is happening?
I provided a list of the common criticisms i usually hear from other people and my friends why Filipino hates Filipino Movies and TV Series. I sum it up into six ultimate reasons why Philippine-made movies are unbearable to watch.
1. Gunfight Endings
Filipinos find local TV series tiresome to watch because it usually ends with gun fights. There's nothing wrong with the sound of bullets crashing through every human bones and arteries or those adrenaline-based fight scenes but do every TV series has to end that way? Can Filipino writers provide a decent ending without involving any violence? It usually has an ending of hostage taking and gun fights between the protagonist and the antagonist. Can they find a better twist for the ending? Love stories end that way. Action ends that way. Even comedies has to end that way.
2. "Give up! You're already surrounded" LIE
For Christ's sake, Filipino movies always involves Police back up but they usually show up late. I mean some movies are super unrealistic. It's near impossible for one untrained person to defeat every armed men and survive in one piece. Police always show up on the end of the movie where everything is already resolved. It's like police are only there to clean up the trash. It's really insulting to policemen. Their reputation are destroyed because the movies depict that they are irrelevant and justice is always served slower than imagined.
3. Trailer - the Thriller Killer
Oh yes! Trailers are those short clips that are being plugged in the television during commercial breaks or an extra in the beginning of a movie in theaters. It shows what will be on cinema soon. The mere purpose of a movie trailer is to catch attention and leave viewers craving for more of the movie. However, Filipino movies almost tell the whole story on the upcoming movie through the trailer in which when you watch the movie, you're not surprised or thrilled anymore. If it's a horror film, they show the face of the monster or shows when will the monster appear which in fact kills the purpose of having a scream-fest inside the theater house. If it's a comedy film, they show all the funny clips and punchlines giving an impression the the viewer of the whole movie that the show is corny or a trash.
4. A Twist in the story
Koreans, Japanese and Thais,in my personal opinion, are the gurus of creating great twists in movies and series. But given the chance to rate Filipinos from 1-10 on the category of creating twist in stories, what would you rate them?
Filipino stories are always predictable because you know who will die, you know the next scene would be, and worse is, you know the exact lines the actor would utter. Filipino movies should improve their story lines and should provide more sharp twists and turns.
5. Just like the movies
Some Filipino movies are not interesting because the story lines are copied or being inspired by Hollywood films. Filipino movies are afraid to explore and try something new. They're always afraid to take a risk and create their own style. Filipino tries so hard to imitate a foreign movie which ends up to be a humongous EPIC FAIL! Would it be better if a Hollywood film would be inspired from a Filipino movie? Filipino viewers wants a brand new tale, brand new movie to become an international trend, a rare story that will leave a history in the movie industry.
6. EDIT? or A death?
Have you watch any old superhero Filipino flick? The new ones? Did it improve? Although, the country is poor in technology but it should at least improve its animation. Some countries are focused on creating movies for 3-Dimensional viewing but for Filipinos, even the simplest explosion and flying scenes could not be mastered. Even a five year old could notice the edits in a movie. Filipino animators should master editing explosions, gun fires, blood stains, and so much more to make it more realistic. Filipino viewers complain of how cheap the budgeting of a movie through its editing and animations.
I am not an expert of cinematography or in film making but i am just a mere Filipino viewer along with others out there who notice the flaws in our movie industry. I am scared that, as a Filipino, we may lose our competence in this field. I also hope for the improvement of Filipino movies because in my personal opinion, Filipino movies lack uniqueness and i find the stories very shallow. However, i can say that there are Filipino movies that are very very great but new movies should have brand new stories and scripts. Filipino movies shouldn't rely on money alone. There should be passion and heart in creating the movie. They should not be thinking of how much they will earn in the movie. They are always dependent on what became a blockbuster hit in Hollywood creating their Filipino version of it.
I am not here to offend the readers, directors, actors or actresses and all the zealots of Filipino films but I am just here to state an observation which is based from circumstantial evidences from the citizens of this country. I am not trying to insult but I am here to look forward to the transformation of Philippine movies.