"Siklo" had some sense of story within it. There's elements about cultism, politics, corruption, and even a basic look into the lives and plights of delivery riders. But this movie was severely hampered by focusing half of the time on its more sensual side (like most VivaMax releases). Without proper character development, the surprise twists and turns in its climactic end all fall flat in a sloppy and floppy finish of what could have been.
A delivery rider (Vince Rillon) struggles to make ends meet and is forced to transfer to a new delivery app called "Siklo". Soon after, he receives constant bookings from a mysterious yet beautiful girl (Christine Bermas). The two instantly develop a friendship and the rider discovers that the girl is a trapped as a mistress of a powerful man (Joko Diaz). Can he, a simple deliver rider, help end the cycle of abuse that surrounds her?
The first scene of "Siklo" confounds us until now. It sets up our main character (played by Vince Rillon) as thief and as a scumbag of a delivery rider and yet the film wants us to root for him? This happens countless times within the film wherein you really don't know who is good or who is bad. This "grey area" is usually a good thing but in "Siklo", it's not because it was caused by the film's lack of story or character development. Most of this is rooted in the film's need to push sex scene after sex scene. Half of the film are sex scenes and any momentum that could have gone to character development doesn't happen because of this. We barely get to know anyone in the film including our lead characters. In fact, Ayanna Misola's character (Vince Rillon's pregnant girlfriend) could have been completely removed from the film and the narrative would have been the same or even better. The film tries to ramp things up in its climax with it throwing twist after twist at the audience. But without any backbone to these surprises, these were simply ineffective and laughable by the time they are revealed. On the acting front, we found Vince Rillon's and Joko Diaz's performances as the best of the bunch but these were passable at best. We do hope that this is a sign that the heaping mess of a "cycle" for VivaMax might be ending. We deserve better films and while sex won't go away, we need a balance of both story and bold which "Siklo" had some semblance of. While "Siklo" isn't really the biggest step forward in the right direction, it's a small step nonetheless.
Rating: 1.5 reels
Why you should watch it:
- at least this had some story and twists within it
Why you shouldn't watch it:
- this had too much sex scenes still affecting story and character development siginificantly
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