This 'Buy Bust' Trailer Is Dark, Grim, And Heavy On The Action

Well, this looks like a damn fine time. Admittedly, I’ve never heard of the Philippine action movie Buy Bust, nor am I very familiar with the filmography of director Erik Matti. But judging from this trailer and a quick perusal of his resume, I should become well acquainted with both. From what we see here in this video, this is something I am now very much looking forward to.

According to Screen Anarchy, where I stumbled across this trailer, there have been a few other glimpses of Buy Bust. I missed those, but hot damn, after watching them, I’m even more excited for this.

The plot revolves around two cops—Anne Curtis, who made a name for herself in rom coms and looks to do something very, very different here; and former UFC fighter and current One FC Heavyweight champ, Brandon Vera. They’re sent into a violent slum where no one gets out in one piece in order to bring down a vicious drug lord.

While that’s not the most original premise, it’s plenty fertile enough to stage grim action and plumb thematic depths. Especially given the current political climate under current Philippine president Rodrigo Duerte, who’s war on drugs is notoriously violent and, let’s just say, often lacks a certain amount of due process when it comes to executing drug dealers. So, yeah, there’s some stuff for Matti and company to get into.

The mood is ominous, almost biblical, and you can’t help but get a frontier western vibe, not only from the potentially near-lawless nature of the violence, but that harmonica-heavy score. It reminds me of the music from Justified, another modern pseudo-western. Buy Bust also appears to share DNA with gritty Hong Kong actioners, think early John Woo and Johnnie To, that’s the feel I’m picking up. Granted, I know this is just a trailer, but that’s the aesthetic here.

Buy Bust opens in Philippine theaters on February 28. There’s no word on a wider international release, but XYZ Films is handling that end of things, so hopefully something will get done and we can set eyeballs on this.