A Hard Day: A Good Adaptation

A Hard Day 

Viva Films 

Lawrence Fajardo 

DIngdong Dantes, John Arcilla 

A Hard Day follows the story of a corrupt detective named Edmund Villon who got caught up in a series of unfortunate events one after another. The chaos all started when he accidentally crashes into a man, killing him. With his fear of manslaughter, he just opted to keep the body of this man inside his car causing a whole lot of trouble along the way. 

This film stars Dingdong Dantes who expertly brought Edmund Villon’s life to the big screen. His portrayal is both convincing and exciting as his action-film capabilities as an artist leveled up in this film. Edmund Villon’s character requires a lot of tension as based on with what he is going through and Dingdong Dantes nevertheless played it in a clever and visually appealing way. Not to mention the presence here of the antagonist John Arcilla who is known for his exceptional and critically acclaimed action films. The mix of artists in this film are all perfectly curated, and it is adoring how every single one of them has a time to shine on their own. 

For a person who haven’t watched or haven’t had any idea about the original Korean version of this film, who has the same title and plot, I was surprised how a local production house can pull something like this perfectly. Though it is not an original screenplay, the narrative is still so flawlessly executed. However, there are a lot of continuity issues in this film such as Dingdong Dantes’ cellphone that is repeatedly changing from Apple to Android from the start of the film until the end, to the point that even a random moviegoer who has little to no care about this kind of stuff will still completely notice it. But even so, story wise, this film is still powerful and intense on its own. 

A Hard Day is 2021 Metro Manila Film Festival’s 3rd best picture, and it is rare for an action film to win such coveted prize as this as we all know that MMFF is known for drama and comedy films. If you have time, kindly give this a try for you will surely be entertained as much as I am. A Hard Day is directed by Lawrence Fajardo and produced by Viva Films. 

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