Vivamax: Review of SITIO DIABLO: Grim Gangland Games

August 26, 2022

In the beginning there was only one gang who ruled Sitio Salvador -- the Diablos. Before long, it was already called Sitio Diablo. When their leader Tonix (Benz Sangalang) got arrested a couple of years ago by corrupt cop Aplaon (Joko Diaz), Bullet (Kiko Estrada), along with his girlfriend, Tonix's sister Aina (AJ Raval), broke away from the Diablos and formed their own gang called the Illustrados. 

One day, a couple of younger Illustrados Garong (Because) and 17 year-old Askal (Ace Raval) were caught by members of another rival gang the Aztecs encroaching on their turf. Bullet decided to deal with Aztec leader Pons (Just Hush) diplomatically, much to the disappointment of war-freak fellow Illustrado Andi (Pio Balbuena). Meanwhile, Aplaon had Tonix released to wreak more havoc.

Prolific Vivamax director Roman Perez, Jr. ups his game with his stylized version of a local gangster's playground. The color schemes and the costume design may not be totally realistic, but they gave Perez's Sitio Diablo a distinctively slick look and dangerous energy. To orient us in whose area of the Sitio we are in, Perez would precede each scene change with a overhead view of the place with the gang's name incorporated within. 

AJ Raval worked hard on her knife-wielding skills here to make her Aina a fighter, not a mere damsel-in-distress. In his very first Vivamax movie, a mustachioed Kiko Estrada cut a striking leading man figure as the sensible Bullet. Unrecognizable from his first Vivamax film "Secrets," Benz Sangalang matched Estrada's screen presence as ruthless kingpin Tonix. As always, Indie Queen Ruby Ruiz stole her scenes as Tonix and Aina's trash-talking mother. 

One of the notable aspects of this movie was the musical soundtrack which captured the raw confusion of today's youth. Likewise notable is the casting of up-and-coming musical artists in key roles, like singer-songwriters Cean Jr. (as Andi's married elder brother Benny), Because (as the impetuous young gang member Garong) and Just Hush (as the rival gangleader Pons). All three did very well as actors in their feature film debuts.

Comparison to the story of Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' "West Side Story" is inevitable with the girl Aina caught between love for her boyfriend Bullet and loyalty to her brother Tonix, both men leaders of two rival gangs. Among scenes of initiation of gang members, Perez recreated a memorable queasy scene from Mike de Leon's "Batch '81" where the boys took turns drinking from a glass of beer after everyone else had spit into it. 

The signature Vivamax sex scenes were there, with AJ Raval and Azi Acosta (as Tonix's girl Hi-C) leading the bevy of gangland molls. However, the film definitely felt like it could have done just as well without any of them. The violence was stylishly graphic and grisly, with a lot of rapid-fire knife stabbing which will make viewers flinch. With the subplot about Askal and his Lola Edna (Angie Castrence), a message of hope for wayward youth was delivered. 6/10.