Line #35 Film/BuyBust


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_20180712_211008.jpg]]
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3	''Film/{{BuyBust}}'' is a 2018 Filipino action-thriller film co-written and directed by Erik Matti.
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5	Nina Manigan (Anne Curtis) is a decent, honorable cop who joins a PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) squad after an operation gone wrong kills everyone in her old squad except herself, leading her to be labeled unfairly as a traitor, or "Hudas" (Judas). Shortly after joining the new squad, the entire team, as well as another squad led by DirtyCop Rudy dela Cruz (Lao Rodriguez), goes on a mission to take out notorious drug lord Biggie Chen (Arjo Atayde) in a decrepit slum area called Gracia ni Maria ("Mary's Grace"), only for the mission to go horribly wrong almost from the get-go, as Chen's numerous thugs and a plethora of angry villagers, among other factors, make it almost impossible for the squads to make it out alive.
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7	Some critics have seen the movie as being supportive of the drug war conducted under President Rodrigo Duterte.
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9	----
10	!!The film contains examples of the following tropes:
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12	* TheAce: Rico Yatco. As he's played by MMA star Brandon Vera, he's not afraid to use an array of octagon-approved moves to take out Chen's henchmen and allies. His immense size and strength also makes him nearly indestructible, and he survives many things, including multiple gunshot wounds, that would otherwise kill another police officer. [[spoiler:Until he is eventually shot in the head.]]
13	* ActionGirl: Nina Manigan is this trope in spades.
14	* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Alvarez. He starts out as the proverbial "good cop" to dela Cruz's foul-mouthed, physically abusive "bad cop" when the two senior officers are interrogating informant Teban. As it turns out, Chen's big reveal is that Alvarez is the number one "Judas" on the force.]]
15	* AlliterativeTitle: '''Bu'''y'''Bu'''st.
16	* BaldOfEvil: Rudy dela Cruz.
17	* BattleCouple: [[TheLancer Alda]] and [[TheLeader Bernie Lacson]].
18	* BlatantLies: At the end of the film, a news report [[spoiler:says that 13 people, including policemen, suspects, and other casualties, died in the siege of Gracia ni Maria. It is obviously much, much more than 13, possibly way more than 100, as further driven home by the overhead shot of all the dead bodies in the slum area.]]
19	** It could also be a case of WritersCannotDoMath taken up to eleven.
20	** FridgeBrilliance kicks in if you only count [[spoiler:the two 6-man squads (minus Manigan), Teban, and dela Cruz as the casualties.]]
21	* [[BroodingBoyGentleGirl Brooding Girl, Gentle Boy]]: [[ShellShockedVeteran Manigan]] with [[GentleGiant Yatco]].
22	* ChekhovsGunman:
23	** The woman Solomon gives his gun to as he declares a manhunt and the girl next to her turn out to be his wife and his elder daughter. [[spoiler:The wife fires the first shot at Chongki when Solomon and the mob decide to kill both sides. Sparing the daughter is the only reason why Manigan lives once she captures Chen.]]
24	** The motorcycle riders who kill Santos in the second fight sequence turn out to be [[spoiler:the [[EliteMooks Tondo Kids]] who nearly kill Manigan, Yatco, and Teban when they hole up in a safehouse.]]
25	* CrapsackWorld: The entire barrio of Gracia ni Maria qualifies as this. If the residents aren't under Chen's employ, they're intensely distrustful of, and oftentimes violent toward cops. It doesn't help that there are many drug labs and seedy bars/possible prostitution dens in the area.
26	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Yatco has two kills that qualify.
27	** The first was [[OffWithHisHead beheading a woman with]] [[ImprovisedWeapon gardening shears.]]
28	** The second was dropping a motorcycle on one of the [[EliteMooks Tondo]] [[HeroKiller Kids.]]
29	* DieHardOnAnX: This film is ''Die Hard'' on a drug-infested Manila slum.
30	* DirtyCop: Early on, it's established that dela Cruz is the obvious example, [[spoiler:but toward the end, Manigan realizes, thanks to Chen's comment about dela Cruz being far from the only "Judas" in the force, that she's a very rare exception in an police force full of them.]]
31	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:It wouldn't be an Erik Matti film if the ending wasn't a downer in one way or another. In the end, practically everyone is dead, except for Manigan.]]
32	* EventTitle: Refers to an undercover operation by narcotics detectives to catch unsuspecting drug dealers.
33	* FairCop: The main characters are good looking men and women.
34	* FinalGirl: [[spoiler:Manigan is literally this.]]
35	* FirstNameBasis: Averted for most characters and only comes into play for characters with personal relationships with another, such as [[BattleCouple Alda and Lacson]], [[BroodingBoyGentleGirl Manigan and Yatco]], [[spoiler:and [[BigBadEnsemble Chen and Alvarez]].]]
36	* GentleGiant: Yatco, who exudes a laid-back, soft-spoken demeanor, except when he's sticking it to the bad guys.
37	* LastNameBasis: Almost all the cops call each other by their last names, with very occasional use of first names.
38	* LeParkour: The characters make use of technical jumps and leaps.
39	* LightningBruiser: Yatco. [[spoiler:It takes a BoomHeadshot to finally bring him down.]]
40	* MadeOfIron: Yatco suffers from multiple beatings, stabbings, ''electrocution'', possible drowning, and ''still'' shrugs it all off.
41	* MeaningfulName:
42	** Biggie Chen, being that he is established from the start as the film's BigBad. [[spoiler:Until he reveals that there is someone in charge who surprisingly fits the billing better than he does – ostensible good cop Alvarez.]]
43	** Chongki, who is Chen's [[TheDragon second-in-command]]. His name is a Filipino slang for marijuana.
44	** Manok, a perpetually stoned, cowardly member of Chen's gang who loves cracking wise, and is only tough when he's got an army of his fellow gun-toting henchmen behind him. The word "manok" translates to "chicken" (as in the animal) in Tagalog.
45	*** The same applies to "Cocky," his translated name in the subtitles. [[spoiler:He tries to blow Manigan and Teban up with a cart of explosives and even tells Chongki that [[TemptingFate it'll work in one go]]. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Manigan ends up using it against most of his crew.]]]]
46	* OneManArmy: Discussed and downplayed.
47	** [[spoiler:Yatco is able to fend off most of the mob when he tries to buy Manigan and Teban time to escape, but dies from a BoomHeadshot The only reasons he survived until then were his BulletproofVest and physique.]]
48	** [[spoiler:Manigan is able to perform the fight in the trope below, but suffers severe injuries afterwards. It's made clear that she is in no condition to fight in close quarters against several enemies afterwards. If it hadn't been for her WouldntHurtAChild moment, reflexes, and shooting skills, she would have died either trying to get to Biggie or leaving with him.]]
49	--> '''Lacson:''' There's no such thing as a one-man army, Manigan.
50	* TheOner: Near the end of the night, Manigan fights back an army of the residents of Gracia on the roofs of the slums in a three-minute long sequence, all in one take.
51	* PintSizedPowerhouse: "Boss" Chongki. He's short in stature, skinny and haggard-looking due to years of hard living, and his hair is graying. But he can more than hold his own in any fight (not surprising, as he's played by martial arts expert Levi Ignacio), even if it means doing most of the damage when he and his thugs [[spoiler:kill the tall, burly police officer Iggy Hizon early on in the film, marking Manigan's squad's first casualty. In fact, he only dies near the end of the film, right before the big confrontation between Manigan and Chen, and only because of FriendlyFire.]]
52	* RedHerring: [[spoiler:Dela Cruz as the Judas who set up the bust. It's actually Alvarez.]]
53	* SadisticChoice: At one point, Manigan is forced to choose between helping Yatco fight off two civilians after falling through a roof or saving Elia [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from the mob]]. [[spoiler: She chooses Yatco.]]
54	* SharedUniverse: Implied to have this with ''Film/OnTheJob'', since the druglord Biggie Chen's name also cropped up there. Erik Matti directed both films.
55	* ShellShockedVeteran: Manigan.
56	* SmugSnake: Dela Cruz shows shades of this when he tells Manigan that the squad dying was their fault and not his, assuming that he's too valuable alive. [[spoiler:Manigan shoots him anyway.]]
57	* SoleSurvivor: Manigan's backstory. [[spoiler: And again by the end of the film.]]
58	* SoundtrackDissonance: An up-tempo, jaunty Filipino folk song plays in the background during Manigan and Chen's big confrontation.
59	* SternTeacher: Squad leader Bernie Lacson. In the introduction to the film, he angrily lectures Manigan, then fires a blank at her for not being a team player during a training exercise. Later on, he takes her aside and assures her that he's on her side – she just needs to cooperate with the rest of the squad.
60	* {{Symbolism}}: The entire film is considered to be a critique of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, an initiative that has killed many, allegedly including several innocent lives, since he was sworn in as president in 2016. The corrupt senior officers can be seen as representations of Duterte and former Philippine National Police Chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, while the angry residents of Gracia ni Maria are widely believed to be representations of Duterte's die-hard supporters, who have been known to [[UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism cyberbully and dogpile critics of his administration]], among other overzealous acts of support for the controversial leader.
61	* TogetherInDeath: Alda and Lacson.
62	* VigilanteMan: After Chongki kills an elderly friend of his simply because his cell phone's ringtone played at the wrong time, a resident named Solomon, who had just buried a daughter who was apparently killed by Chen's men, decides to take the law in his own hands and leads an army of vigilantes determined to take Chen, Chongki, and the rest of the bad guys out.
63	* WhamLine:
64	-->'''Manigan:''' Who is Judas?
65	-->'''Biggie Chen:''' [[spoiler:[[TheBadGuysAreCops Which one?]]]]
66	* WhatTheHellHero: When Manigan, furious upon seemingly confirming that he set her old squad to be killed before throwing her under the bus, [[spoiler:shoots dela Cruz dead at point-blank range.]] She gets sternly rebuked by Yatco, who scolds her for breaking protocol.

Context Film / BuyBust