Sin Island Movie Review: Badly Written, Badly Directed Non-Thriller Where Only Natalie Hart Emerges Unscathed In Her Role As A Psychotic Female Faggot

GINO SANTOS, at 28, is one of youngest directors today. He started as an indie filmmaker with "The Animals" and "#Y", then Star Cinema got him to do mainstream flicks like "Ex With Benefits" with Derek Ramsay and Coleen Garcia, "Love Me Tomorrow" with Piolo Pascual and Coleen, and now, "Sin Island" with Xian Lim and his signature actress, Coleen once again.

Sad to say, instead of getting better, his work seems to be getting from bad to worse, particularly in "Sin Island", which starts as a credible drama about a couple having problems with their marriage then it suddenly turns into a cheap thriller ala-"Fatal Attraction" with Natalie Hart as an obsessed paramour, which just had another recent reincarnation in "Unforgettable" with Katherine Heigl as the obsessed woman.

The movie actually starts promisingly. David (Xian Lim) is an accomplished wedding photographer and his wife Kanika (Coleen), a flight attendant, seem perfect for each other. Unfortunately, Xian's stupid assistant (McCoy de Leon) unintentionally sabotaged his career and he had to pay a newly married couple P10 million for accidentally destroying their wedding photos that cannot be replicated.

No one wants to hire him again and he goes bankrupt, wallowing in misery, with "loser" written all over him. He then becomes the "palamunin" of his own wife, who, in turn, becomes attracted to a good looking pilot (TJ Trinidad). Xian gets terribly jealous even if the affair between Coleen and TJ is never consummated. Obviously, it's all a mere plot contrivance to give the movie some complications.

Xian goes to Sin Island (for Sinilaban) and meets Tasha (Natalie Hart), a seductive tattoed woman who's doing yoga totally naked on the beach. It's easy to deduce that they will end up where they shouldn't be, in bed. Coleen then realizes she really loves Xian, follows him to the island, discovers that he cheated her with the help of Natalie, but then still forgives Xian. But Natalie is not about to let them go that easily.

As a drama, you'd at first think that it's serious in its initial aim to show the disintegration of a marriage and how infidelity rears its ugly head, but then, the shift in tone that turns it into a very cheap and violent thriller mars everything that precedes it. As a piece of erotica, we're afraid it also does not deliver quite successfully. It lacks steam and you just don't get turned on. Something is missing and the sex scenes actually come across as very tame.

Both Coleen and Xian try hard to make an impression but their performances look perfunctory on screen, especially for Xian who doesn't have any chemistry with both his leading ladies. It's only Natalie Hart who seems to know that the best way to make this movie work is not to take it too seriously. She laces her portrayal of the psychotic Tasha with campy humor, especially when she pretends to Coleen that she left her panties with Xian after a night of lovemaking with him.

She knows her character is insane and she plays it from the start with a hint of incipient madness. Actually, we're rooting for her to survive so that she can later run after the makers of this movie with gun and knife in hand to make them pay for making us suffer in watching this badly written, badly directed non-erotic sex flick and non-exciting thriller.
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Pia Wurtzbach Launched As A Solo Leading Lady In A RomCom, 'The Perfect You' With Gerald Anderson, Opening In Theaters On March 14

 

WE REMEMBER Pia Wurtzbach introduced as a teener in the youth oriented show "K2BU" in 2002, which didn't rate well and proved to be short lived. She then did supporting roles in soaps like "It Might Be You" and "Sa Piling Mo". She was then using the screen name Pia Romero and her career didn't really prosper. But of course, winning the Miss Universe title in 2015, after several attempts in the Bb. Pilipinas pageant, changed all that.

She did three films before, playing supporting roles: "Kung Ako na Lang Sana", "All My Life" and "All About Love". Last December, she was reintroduced playing one of the leads in "Gandarrapido" with Vice Ganda and Daniel Padilla and it was a mammoth hit. Three months later, she now stars in her first solo flick as a lead actress in "The Perfect You", with Gerald Anderson as her leading man.

Gerald is the perfect choice because he's not totally associated with any single actress. Star Cinema can pair with him anyone and the movie still makes money, like with Sarah Geronimo, Bea Alonzo, Arci Munoz. So we can say that Pia is in good hands.

In "The Perfect You", Pia tries her hand on doing a wacky romantic-comedy. She plays a hilarious character named Abby, she runs a nature resort called the Happy Sunshine Camp all by herself. Gerald plays a long-haired, unkempt guy from the city named Burn who hires a room in her place. When he checks in, Pia tells him:"Once you check in, mahihirapan ka nang mag-check out, dahil ang serbisyo namin, all out!"

Gerald is not impressed. He's always sullen, has a masungit and galit sa mundo attitude, compared to Pia's very sunshiny disposition. A funny scene in the trailer shows Gerald asking for the cook, the manager, the owner of the place and, each time, Pia will just make an instant make over of her own self and presents her transformation as the cook, the manager, the owner, prompting Gerald to blurt out: "Ikaw lahat?"

As stories like this go, it's apparent that Gerald's character is going through some problematic phase in his life and it will be Pia's duty to transform his negative attitude so that he can have a more positive change of heart. The film is directed by box office hit maker Cathy Garcia Molina, who is threatening to retire from filmmaking soon, and will open in theaters on March 14. Will this be Pia's ticket to super stardom as a solo leading lady in a romcom? Well, here's hoping the viewers will support "The Perfect You".
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