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Review | Netflix movie review: A Hard Day – Dingdong Dantes, John Arcilla star in efficient Filipino remake of 2014 Korean thriller
- Dingdong Dantes plays a crooked policeman involved in a hit-and-run accident, and John Arcilla plays another officer who tries to blackmail him
- The dark humour of the Korean original was dropped for a more action-focused storyline, and there are a few fight scenes
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3/5 stars
Dingdong Dantes headlines A Hard Day, the third official remake of Kim Seong-hun’s 2014 South Korean hit, after the Aaron Kwok-fronted Peace Breaker (2017) and French adaptation Restless from earlier this year.
Director Law Fajardo’s efficiently executed tale of a bad police officer having an even worse day hews commendably close to Kim’s original, but drops the dark humour in favour of more conventional action beats.
John Arcilla, Volpi Cup winner for best actor at the Venice film festival for On the Job: The Missing 8, elevates the material whenever on screen as the film’s merciless antagonist.
Detective Edmund Villon (Dantes) is already under investigation by Internal Affairs when he is involved in a hit-and-run accident while driving to his mother’s wake.
In a moment of panic, Villon bundles the dead pedestrian into the boot of his car and flees the scene, only to be flagged down at a police checkpoint, which leads to a violent altercation.
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