Watch List (2019) User Reviews

Solid thriller

[alain-kapel5 · 7/10 · 26 August 2021]

Watch List is a solid crime thriller from the Philippines. It's lean and mean, a bit melodramatic in a few scenes, but also tough to stomach for its cruel depiction of corruption and murderous police units. Viewers follow a woman who loses her husband after he gets shot by unknown assailants. This prompts her to try and look for his murderers, and her search leads her to a police inspector who promises they will be found if she agrees to work for him as an informant. However, she soon realizes this also includes being part of a hit squad... the plot moves forward with no stop gaps after this point. It's a straightforward film that dabbles in complicated real life issues revolving around the Philippines' uncompromising police operations. Drug users and dealers are taken out with little thought given to their current affairs. If they're on the ominous drug watch list, it's uncertain how long they have left before a hit squad comes for them. Acting is convincing and cinematography vivid and gritty, especially in nighttime scenes, further amplifying the film's tense and morally grey narrative. Some of the more apparent flaws here include a feeling of predictability, as many events are easy to foresee, while the film also tends to state the obvious in some of the dialogues. This doesn't detract from the overall impression, though, that Watch List is a pretty good film that should appeal to most crime thriller fans.

Outstanding Film from the Philippines

[bayareamike · 9/10 · 17 February 2021]

This is a film superb! It's also rather depressing but it's a story that needs to be told. My wife is from the Philippines and I have been there almost a dozen times, so I am familiar with President Duterte and his policies. I understand what he's trying to do to reduce or eliminate drug users and drug pushers but the killing of innocents or former drug users who have reformed themselves is a very fine line. It's a raw film that will suck you in and play with your emotions. Are government sponsored vigilante groups killing both suspected drug users & pushers, yet also kill random innocent people really the answer?? If you are that random innocent person killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe you might feel differently...