Review: 'Uninvited' is A Satisfying Revenge Drama To A Degree

(SPOT.ph) Uninvited has Vilma Santos attending a party at a mansion. She introduces herself to people as Eva Candelaria, a woman who has made a large contribution to the host’s wife’s foundation. But this is not her real name. Her name is Lilia, and she is attending this party for a very specific reason: to take revenge on the host of the party, Guilly Vega (Aga Muhlach), and the goons that played a part in the death of her daughter.

This is all very straightforward. There is no moral ambiguity here: Guilly Vega is a cartoonishly evil villain, at one point described as having committed every capital crime one could think of. To add to that, Muhlach really takes delight in playing him as a complete psychopath, the actor practically twirling an invisible moustache as he carries out his dark deeds. This movie is not about trying to grapple with the righteousness of revenge, or examining the nuances of justice in the country. This movie is driven by the same sentiment that has led people to cheer on Luigi Mangione, the alleged shooter of the healthcare CEO: we all understand that at some point, enough is enough.

And it is satisfying, to a degree.

Guilly versus Lilia, Aga versus Vilma

The film takes a while to get down to business. It is likely that people will see this movie for the sheer novelty of watching Vilma Santos stabbing people (yes, she’s done it before in Tagos ng Dugo but that’s 37 years ago). The movie does give us that, but it saves it all for the final act. It instead has the Star for all Seasons just wandering around this mansion for a while, interacting with the various characters, forming a vague picture of the relationships between the various people involved in this family. What emerges is kind of interesting, but not a whole lot of it really factors into the story that much.

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We also get flashbacks to what actually happened with her daughter, further explicating on the anger that would lead her to this place. Again: the whole thing is very simple, with practically every scene expounding on how bad Vega really is, and how righteous Lilia is for wanting to kill him. At some point, it does get a bit repetitive: the point has been made over and over, and the fact that very little progress is being made in the present just gets a little frustrating. To be fair, the flashbacks feature some strong work from Gabby Padilla, and that helps things along a bit.

No shows or plain uninvited 

But then, the movie does get bloody, and it’s pretty delicious. People get stabbed. People get shot. The blood flows freely, and it feels like the movie gets to exhale. And we get to watch Vilma Santos get to do all that stuff. Not all of it makes sense: at the start of the film, a little bit of voiceover narration from Santos mentions that there’s a lot of security around, and in this climactic battle, they are nowhere to be seen. And there are some things that were set up that don’t pay off much at all. It just feels like there ought to have been more characters involved in this part of the film, and they don’t really show up.

But in the end, it’s still a good time. Uninvited goes over-the-top, but it seems to understand something about the helplessness that people feel when confronted by the impunity of the powerful and the corrupt. It gives us a vessel in Vilma Santos to release some of that helplessness, playing at a fantasy of justice that doesn’t really seem possible in a normal Filipino’s life.

Rating: 3 ½ stars 

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