"A likably rough-edged hitmen-vs-cops thriller."
- Hollywood Reporter.
"Gritty, convoluted but steadily engrossing crime thriller from Filipino genre maven Erik Matti."
--Variety
“On The Job, is no doubt, the best action movie at the present era of our (Philippine) cinema.”
These are the usual words that I used to see from a lot of movie reviews, be it a legitimate critic or just an amateur from the bloggers’ circle. And come to think that noir poetry (or better known as “poverty porn”) is on the roll again, be it a Jessica Hagedorn book or a “Gates Of Hell” remark from Dan Brown.
Positive feedback aside, I used to wonder if Star Cinema marketed the movie enough since they tied-up with Erik Matti and Dondon Monteverede’s Reality Entertainment, the real group behind OTJ’s conceptualization-to-execution plan (and aside from the former’s celebration of their 20th anniversary). That is something I cannot tell since I don’t really watch the shows from channel 2; and since the time I realized the epidemic dumbness of the present mainstream.
But either way, that made my drive for curiosity to watch that film. Good thing that despite the time I only had in my hands (since only local “rom-com” movies and foreign action counterparts do last for more than a month in cinemas) – I still managed to watch “On The Job” at one of those movie houses in Eastwood City (at that moment, OTJ was only shown in 3 theatres – SM Fairview, Robinsons Galleria and Eastwood Cinemas).
Okay, after 121 minutes of thrilling action, I can only come up with a lot of words to tell about this movie.