Movielogr

Rating: 4 stars

Tags

manila Philippines buddy cop jungle

All movies seen on 12/04/2025

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Showdown in Manila (2016)

Directed by Mark Dacascos

Action | Adventure

Overview

The film unfolds in Manila, Philippines, and in the jungles of the island of Boracay on a tropical island in the privacy of living Russian middle-aged man (Alexander Newsky). But the quiet life interrupted by the murder of one of the locals. In order to protect the daughter of the slain Filipino bandits Russian guy have to remember the past, he tried to bury.

Length 86 minutes

Actors

Casper Van Dien | Alexander Nevsky | Don Wilson | Tia Carrere | Cynthia Rothrock | Matthias Hues | Hazel Faith Dela Cruz | Olivier Gruner | Maria Bakalova | Mark Dacascos | Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa | Maria Bravikova | Natalie Gubina | Robert Madrid | Dmitriy Dyuzhev | Hafedh Dakhlaoui | Polina Butorina | Trixie Dauz | Michael Dyakonov | Monsour Del Rosario | Emanuel Bettencourt | Will Devaughn | Jn Lapido | Janvier Daily | Mark Anthony Robrigado | Ian Ignacio | Max Corpuz | Jay-Ar Tillman | Max Millan Corpuz | Nico Gomez | Derek Morales | Rich Valencia | Krista Miller | Marti San Juan | Mikko Luna | James Lomahan | Jack Falcis | Jeff Carpio | David M. Brunsman | Alvin Anson

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

RIP Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa
September 27, 1950 - December 4, 2025

Lost another great one today, one of those “there won’t be another like him” kind of actors. Didn’t matter the movie, when he shows up his presence was felt and often made an impact.

Plucked this one off Prime to celebrate his life because this is exactly the type of role he made a career from: the Big Bad Villain (even tho I knew going in this wouldn’t be one of his better films, ofc).

On one hand, it’s great to see all these DTV legends together again and still working. On the other, can someone please cast them in a good movie with a good screenplay and better leading actor. You know I love Mark Dacascos but based on this movie, he still needs a lot work behind the camera. Like wowza not good. But a lot of that could’ve been overlooked if you at least had a charismatic actor in the lead instead of Alexander Nevsky.

It’s clear they were going for a buddy cop thing a la Showdown in Little Tokyo but any one of the supporting actors would’ve been more interesting than Nevsky. Heck, Dacascos would’ve been great. It’s a shame bc they could’ve created something decent here and made a franchise.

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