3pol Trobol: Huli Ka Balbon!

3pol Trobol: Huli Ka Balbon! (transl. Triple Trouble: Got You Balbon!) is a Philippine action-comedy-romance film directed by and starring Coco Martin under his real name Rodel Nacianceno, alongside Jennylyn Mercado and Ai-Ai delas Alas.[2]

3pol Trobol: Huli Ka Balbon!
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRodel Nacianceno
Screenplay byNoreen Capili
Story byRodel Nacianceno
Starring
Music byJessie Lasaten
CinematographyMoises Zee
Edited byRenewin Alano
Production
company
CCM Productions
Distributed by
Release date
  • December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryPhilippines
LanguageFilipino
Box office₱87 million (January 7, 2020)[1]

Plot

Secretary Guillermo (Rowell Santiago), the Executive Director of National Defense Agency was murdered and his aide de camp, Apollo "Pol" Balbon (Coco Martin), is blamed for his death by Senator Esguerra (Edu Manzano) and General Calupitan (Tirso Cruz III). Balbon attempts to contact the executive director's daughter Trina (Jennylyn Mercado) to learn about her father's unfinished mission prior to his death. He dresses in drag, as Paloma, to take gain her trust.[3][2] Balbon and Trina escape to Balate, Batangas, where they stay at a home where Pol's other relatives and friends live. While working at the stable own by Yorme (Isko Moreno) who was the former mayor of Balate, Trina was almost rapped by the workers and Balbon saves her and they inform him that they are hiding from Senator Esguerra and General Calupitan. Trina later calls Yaya Mi (Mitch Valdes) to get the Ledger on her room, where her father hid it. After finding the Ledger, she goes to Balate, not knowing one of the Senator Esguerra's men are following her and Andrew Esguerra (Sam Milby) Trina's childhood friend informs his father where Pol and Trina is and he and his wife ordered him to get the Ledger and also kill Balbon and Trina. Meanwhile Yaya Mi finds Balbon and Trina and hands them the Ledger and one of Balbon's relative that Yorme could help them to hand the Ledger to the President. They go to Yorme's house and shows him the Ledger that Senator Esguerra and General Calupitan are responsible for Secretary Guillermo's death and they have to give it to the President and Trina informs that she and Balbon are being man-hunted by Senator Esguerra and General Calupitan and they already taken control of the police. Luckily Yorme reveals himself as an old friend to the President and he will be the one to hand the Ledger to him. Shortly after Yorme left to Manila with the Ledger in tow, Andrew and his men arrive at Balbon's house and captures Trina and one of the Balbon's relatives dashes to Yorme's stable and informs Balbon that Trina is been caught by Andrew's men and he hops on a horse and chases them where it ends at the river which all of Andrew's men are wiped out. Andrew manages to gain the upper hand and almost killed Trina. However before he could do so, Balbon throws a bamboo spear at Andrew killing him and saving Trina. Meanwhile Senator Esguerra and General Calupitan are finally arrested by the President, while the fate of Senator Esguerra's wife is unknown, either, she was also arrested for her indirect involvement. With Senator Esguerra and General Calupitan behind bars and Andrew dead, Balbon and Trina are finally married.

Cast

Main cast

Supporting cast
  • Edu Manzano as Sen. Simon Esguerra
  • Sam Milby as Andrew Esguerra
  • Tirso Cruz III as Gen. Damian Calupitan
  • Isko Moreno as Yorme
  • Rowell Santiago as Sec. Ernesto Guillermo
  • John Prats as Junior, Pol's Cousin
  • Pepe Herrera as Tolits
  • Long Mejia as Bisoy
  • Joey Marquez as Joseph
  • Mark Lapid as Joseph's Brother
  • PJ Endrinal as Joseph's Cousin
  • Lou Veloso as Ka Tinio
  • Jhong Hilario as Joaquin
  • Ping Medina as Rigor
  • Mitch Valdez as Yaya Mi
  • Liza Lorena as Lola Risa Balbon - Grandmother of Apollo
  • Sancho delas Alas as Guillermo's Chef
  • Joven Olvido as Guillermo's Gardener
  • Nonong Ballinan as Guillermo's Driver
  • Donna Cariaga as Guillermo's Maid

The film's ensemble cast also includes Carmi Martin, Jojit Lorenzo, Bianca Manalo, PJ Endrinal, Super Tekla, Boobsie Wonderland, Marc Solis, Lester Llansang, John Medina, Donna Cariaga, Bassilyo, Smugglaz, Happy, Soliman Cruz, Kim Molina, Marissa Delgado, Whitney Tyson, Bernard Palanca, Ali Khatibi, Paolo Paraiso, Ivana Alawi. Most of the cast members are Martin's colleagues in the action television series Ang Probinsyano.

Production

3pol Trobol: Huli Ka Balbon! was directed by Coco Martin under his own production outfit CCM Productions. Also as one of the co-stars and a producer of the film, Martin's role as director is credited under his real name Rodel Nacianceno.[4] Noreen Capili was the screenwriter[2]3pol Trobol was produced as a "action-comedy-romance film".[4]

Release

3pol Trobol premiered in cinemas across the Philippines on December 25, 2019 as one of the eight official entries to the 2019 Metro Manila Film Festival.[2]

Reception

Critical reception

Jocelyn Valle of PEP.ph remarked that 3pol Trobol "became a more acceptable film to watch" compared to Martin's previous entry, but noted its formulaic production and premise derived from FPJ's Ang Probinsyano.[5] Both Oggs Cruz of Rappler and Neil Charm of BusinessWorld each gave the film a more critical review, however: Oggs Cruz found Martin's portrayal of the Paloma alter ego, wherein Martin's character uses the Paloma persona to discreetly watch a woman change her clothes or "steal a kiss", "distasteful", and Jennylyn Mercado's character being depicted as a stereotypical damsel in distress "outdated".[6] Neil Charm was also similarly perturbed at the film; while he praised it as an improvement over Martin's previous films, he found the subplot of Pol and his cohorts' perversion, along with scenes of attempted rape "disturbing", hoping "one day Mr. Nacianceno moves on from dirty jokes and using sexual harassment as a trope in his action films." Charm also lamented what he saw as early campaigning on part of Isko Moreno.[3]

References
  1. Gabinete, Jojo (10 January 2020). "Miracle In Cell No. 7, mahigit P100M ang lamang sa The Mall, The Merrier" [Miracle In Cell No. 7, earned only P100M more than The Mall, The Merrier]. PEP.ph (in Filipino). Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  2. Bernardino, Stephanie Marie (25 December 2019). "The MMFF 2019 Guide: What to watch in PH cinemas at Christmas time". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  3. Chua, Zsarlene (27 December 2019). "Disturbing scenes mar action-comedy". BusinessWorld. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  4. Amoyo, Aster (13 December 2019). "Coco sobrang higpit bilang producer-director" [Coco so strict as producer-director]. Journal Online (in Tagalog and English). Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  5. Valle, Jocelyn. "REVIEW: Coco Martin's 3Pol Trobol: Huli Ka Balbon relies heavily on formula". PEP.ph. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
  6. Cruz, Oggs. "'3Pol Trobol: Huli Ka Balbon' review: Toxic cinema". Rappler. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
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