Arjo Atayde Talks Reinventing Philippines Action Cinema In MMFF Release ‘Triggered’

deadline.com:

It may not seem like the most obvious choice for a Christmas movie – a brutal action film with a protagonist traumatized by a failed mission in the jungle – but Triggered (Topakk) is one of the ten films selected for this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) and is opening across the Philippines on December 25.

Starring Arjo Atayde and Julia Montes, the Tagalog-language film had its world premiere at Locarno film festival in 2023 and has been touring other festivals over the past year.

Atayde plays a former special forces operative, now working as a security guard and struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who tries to save a woman being pursued by corrupt police and a vicious drugs cartel.  “Filipino families tend to go out together over the holidays, but I guess this is one for the dads and their sons, while the mums and daughters go to watch a romcom,” Atayde grins as he sits down to discuss with film with Deadline. “It’s a really out-of-the-box action film for the Philippines, at least these days.

We’re no longer known for our martial arts, but this film has really been inspired by our director’s love of 1980s action movies.”  Richard Somes, director and co-writer of the film, has made a name with both action and horror movies, but wanted to resurrect the heyday of Filipino action cinema in the ‘70s and ‘80s, when hard-boiled heroes such as Eddie Garcia and Fernando Poe Jr were the country’s biggest stars.