Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles was a movie that didn’t take itself very seriously. It had a pretty twisted sense of humor that stood as counterpoint to its over-the-top action and violence. Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2 takes the lack of seriousness even further, crossing over into the realm of full farce. The film often teeters over the edge of self-indulgence, but the sheer craft involved in putting together all of the silliness results in a really effective piece of manic entertainment.
The film begins where the last one left off. It turns out that Makoy (Dingdong Dantes) wasn’t able to get his family away to Manila safely. On the way there, they are intercepted by Veron (Elizabeth Oropesa) and her line of aswang. They take revenge on Makoy by killing his wife-to-be. The film picks up two years later, with Makoy back in Manila living with his sister (Lotlot de Leon) and fellow Tiktik survivor Nestor (Joey Marquez). Makoy just wants to live quietly, but he is soon drawn into a conflict between different aswang families as a particularly ambitious leader (KC Montero) puts together a devious plan that would turn the residents of the city into monsters.
Not that the story really matters. It’s there, but it will always give way to cartoon silliness. The entire second act of this movie is really just a series of jokes; the plot taking a backseat while the film unleashes its unique brand of dark, absurdist comedy. The film thrives on silly human behavior, finding humor in how people can get so self-absorbed that they ignore the imminent danger that they’re all facing. And so policemen might forget about the aswang in the room for a moment while they get up using a special effects app on a smartphone. And maybe the heroes are more prone to arguing their points than doing the things that may save their life.
Some of these jokes go on for too long, the filmmakers clearly having a little too much fun with their material. But the film is well crafted enough that it’s easy enough to forgive the indulgence. The work that went into this movie is evident in every frame. It’s clear that real thought and effort went into putting together each of these scenes, no matter how silly or outright stupid the content. The movie really distinguishes itself in how it finds humor beyond the text, with the direction, the editing and the musical score often producing the biggest laughs.
The action is pretty good, though probably still a little too reliant on VFX and wirework. Though an improvement over the last movie, it still isn’t entirely convincing. As impressive as some of this is, the film is still much more appealing when people are just talking to each other. Dingdong Dantes’ Makoy is still really fun to watch, the actor really finding something compelling in the character’s lack of civility. Lotlot de Leon is a great addition to the cast, and plays off well with Joey Marquez. Isabelle Daza doesn’t quite have the skills to pull off a lot of scenes, but her willingness to look silly is pretty endearing.
Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2 is a far weirder film than one might expect. It more or less abandons all pretense of realism, and instead assaults the audience with the manic energy of a cartoon. There are certainly points where the film could have been just a little more restrained, but by and large this a hugely entertaining spectacle that displays a sense of humor and satire that just hasn’t been seen in our cinema in years.
My Rating:
