Director Michael Tuviera’s Mission Unstapabol: The Don Identity is another action-comedy film starring Eat Bulaga host Vic Sotto and Benilde Culinary Arts alumna and actress Maine Mendoza filled with genre conventions and stereotypes.

2019 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entry, Mission Unstapabol: The Don Identity, reunites director Tuviera with actors Sotto and Mendoza after working together with last year’s film, Jack Em Popoy: The Puliscredibles. The plot centers on master thief Don Robert Fortun (Vic Sotto) assembling a crew of professionals to clear his name after being accused of a crime he didn’t commit to retrieve a valuable item, the Pearl of the Orient, and get revenge on his brother, Benjie (Jose Manalo) who orchestrated Robert’s downfall. The team consists of expert hacker Claire Mendez/Donna Cruz (Maine Mendoza), the muscle and pro-wrestler Don Johnson (Jake Cuenca), the magician thief Don Zulueta (Pokwang), the loyal right-hand man Don Kikong (Jelson Bay), and master impersonator Bruno (Wally Bayola).

Attached with the film is Bronze, Silver, Gold at Anting-anting, a short film from De La Salle University-Integrated School Manila that won the Jury Prize Student Short Film at the festival out of eight selected entries. With the theme of showcasing “Philippine Mythology and Regional Stories”, the film centers on the superstitions on the anting-anting or amulets and luck by the preceding generations.

A heist of humor

With Sotto being a resident in the comedy genre in Philippine cinema, he may have lost his touch in the genre as his performance isn’t something new and exciting. Gone are the days of “Enteng Kabisote” attracting the audience during Christmas. On the other hand, Mendoza’s performance is quite the more compelling one as her emotions and line delivery didn’t come out as overacting. However, her character could’ve been written better as the decision to have Claire as a knockoff of Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a hacker who rides a motorcycle and wears black clothing and makeup, loses the originality the film could’ve had.

Driven by stereotypes of the heist subgenre, the film doesn’t take risks in creating something new. The lazy writing of the plot and characters isn’t quite an “unstoppable” force to be reckoned with as the film tries so hard to be the Philippines’ Ocean’s Eleven and Mission: Impossible.

A quite decent production design adds to the level of belief in the world this film revolves around on. The ‘Pearl of the Orient’ serves as a MacGuffin or an object or simply a device necessary to the plot—and the characters’ motivation but insignificant in itself. Driven by this valuable object, the film lacks a bigger motivation for the characters, especially Don Benjie whose motivations as a villain need more weight. Manalo’s performance captures the villain role, however, his character’s motivations aren’t as strong as the writers thought they could be.

As to its redeemable aspect of the film, it serves as a reflection of the current state of the Philippine government of politicians with hidden agendas that alienate the masses as they earn trust through “serving” the country. Yet, this doesn’t come out as subtle as the poor dialogue throughout the film relies heavily on the exposition of telling the audience rather than showing it.

Mission Unstapabol: The Don Identity is entertaining at best with inspirations from the heist films and series from Hollywood. With its repetitive slapstick comedy on dialogues, the Philippine media references as such Kadenang Ginto memes and the iconic lines of Diamond Star Maricel Soriano in her movies are used for some laughs from its viewers.

Rating: 1/5