ON THE JOB is a dark, dingy, and rather sweaty Filipino thriller that has some stylistic similarities to the far superior METRO MANILA. Unfortunately this is ultimately a much lesser work in which promise at the outset soon devolves thank to some rather pedestrian writing. ON THE JOB is too long, too slow, and marred by unsympathetic characters who you don't give two hoots about despite their various problems.
The story involves a real-life scandal around career criminals being given day release from prison to go around working as political assassins. It sounds great, but after the umpteenth long-winded scene of characters arguing and discussing their plight, it becomes merely average rather than profound. It doesn't help that the only truly likable character is the young crusading cop whose character is let down by possibly the most unsatisfying climax in a film ever.
Director Erik Matti performs an able job behind the camera, creating a gritty and realistic look that brings out the poverty and grime of the surroundings. Individual scenes are powerful, and there are one or two good action moments, but the choreography is sometimes sloppy and the tedium occasionally overwhelming. These factors conspire to make ON THE JOB a distinctly average movie when it should by all rights be a good one.
