The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin
The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin is a 2014 Philippine comedy film written and directed by Wenn V. Deramas. It is the sequel to The Unkabogable Praybeyt Benjamin. The film is one of the official entries to the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival. Vice Ganda reprised his role as Colonel Benjamin "Benjie" Santos VIII together with a supporting cast Richard Yap, Tom Rodriguez, Bimby Yap and introducing Alex Gonzaga with the special participation of Eddie Garcia.
| The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Wenn V. Deramas |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Elmer Despa |
| Edited by | Marya Ignacio |
| Music by | Vincent de Jesus |
Production companies | |
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Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | Philippines |
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| Box office | ₱455 million[1] (US$9 million) |
Plot
On a mission in Paris, Praybeyt Benjamin and his platoon defeat a horde of zombies in a parody of Plants vs. Zombies, leading to his promotion to Colonel. To prepare him better, Benjamin is assigned under a new general, Wilson Chua. However, Benjamin screws up a subsequent mission against terrorists led by Jan Jaranjan and is narrowly rescued by his grandfather, who sacrifices himself to save him. Benjamin is about to be dismissed from service when Gen. Chua saves him by giving him a mission – to guard his bratty son Bimbee, who holds a clue to the location of the terrorists' next three bomb attacks. As he watches over Bimbee, Benjamin finds himself clashing with Misty, General Chua's daughter, and the meddlesome housemaid Gundina, while trying to gain information from a recalcitrant Bimby. However, as he gets to know Bimbee more, he learns that Bimbee is a kid deprived of love from family – something that he has ignored in his quest to be on top again. The first bomb explodes harmlessly while the second is found and defused by a Benjamin, who is fired shortly afterwards after his arrogance causes a screw-up. While relearning his humility with his family, the terrorists abduct Bimby and take him to their last target, a shopping mall. Benjamin is reinstated into the army, rescues Bimby and defuses the bomb, after which he flies off with Bimby on an umbrella resembling that of Mary Poppins.
Cast of characters
Main cast
- Vice Ganda as Colonel Benjamin "Ben G" Santos VIII
Supporting cast
- Richard Yap as Commanding General Wilson Chua
- Tom Rodriguez as Jan Jaranjan
- Bimby Aquino Yap as Bimbee Pineda Chua
- Alex Gonzaga as Gundina Galamiton
- Al Tantay as Benjamin "Ben" Santos VII
- Eddie Garcia as General Benjamin "Bino" Santos VI
- Vandolph Quizon as Buhawi Manay
- Nikki Valdez as Lucresia Alcantara
- Kean Cipriano as Emerson Ecleo
- Anja Aguilar as Jesamine Santos
- DJ Durano as Dominador "Dondi" Rosales
- Ricky Rivero† as Big Boy Carnate
- Dennis Padilla as Bentot Santos
- Malou de Guzman as Lilibeth Santos
- Abby Bautista as Anjemin Santos
- Rhed Bustamante as Misty Chua
- Gerard Garcia as Inspector Bautista
- Kurt Ong as Inspector Realado
- David Licauco as Terrorist
- Rubi Rubi as Captain Tenille
- Atak Araña as Zak Apron
Cameo
- Angel Locsin as young Lilibeth Santos
- Kris Aquino as Krissy (Not to be confused as Krissy Achino)
- Darla Sauler as Darla
- Luis Manzano as young Benjamin "Ben" Santos VII
- James Reid as James
- Donnalyn Bartolome as herself
Reception
Box office
MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino, revealed that The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin topped the box office record of the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival's opening day on December 25, 2014, in a radio interview in DZMM. Praybeyt Benjamin was ahead of fellow entrants, My Big Bossing's Adventures and Feng Shui 2 ranked second and third respectively in terms of box office record on the opening day of the film festival. Tolentino did not state the official figures of the sales on the opening day of the film festival during the said interview.[2]
During her stint at The Buzz where is she is one of the hosts, Kris Aquino said that The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin recorded P172 million worth of box office receipts as of 3:00 pm PST December 28, 2014.[3]
In a January 15, 2015, episode of Vice Ganda's variety show, It's Showtime, he announced that the movie closed the day before with P435 million earnings, surpassing the film Starting Over Again in terms of domestic earnings. He now hold the distinction of starring in 7 of the 20 highest-grossing films in the Philippines of all time.
Critical response
Despite being a high-grossing film at the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival, reception for The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin generally received negative reviews.[4]
Zig Marasigan of Rappler, described the film in his movie review as "a brainless, hyper-stylized and utterly ridiculous family comedy". Marasigan criticized Praybeyt Benjamin for "unashamedly made for profit". He also described the film as "cheap, tacky and absolutely nonsensical. But say what you might about the film's level of intellectualism (or lack thereof), it is at least honest about its intentions". Marasigan however acknowledged that the film fulfilled its purpose, to primarily entertain its target audience.[5]
Bubbles Salvador at the Philippine Entertainment Portal, has a more positive review for the film. While Salvador took note of one loophole in the plot of the film - namely the lack of resolution between Bimbee and his father, with the former feeling unloved by the latter, Salvador described Praybeyt Benjamin 2 as "worth of one's couple of hours at the cinema this holiday season, if one is not looking for a lesson in history, a love story, or a good scare, and would settle for a light and funny action comedy".[6]
Planned sequel
A third film was announced as it is officially part of the 46th Metro Manila Film Festival. Vice Ganda was expected to reprise his role. Its entry in the film festival was based on its script.[7] Filming for the Praybeyt Benjamin sequel has yet to take place as of October 2020 due to logistics issue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as uncertainties caused by the non-renewal of ABS-CBN's broadcast franchise.[8][9] As a script-based submission, the Praybeyt Benjamin film would have to be produced by November 30, 2020.[9] The film was not among the final ten official entries of the film festival announced in November 2020 . As of 2022, no further updates for the film and later both will be starring on upcoming MMFF 2022 film called Partners in Crime.
References
- ^ (PDF). ABS-CBN Corporation. May 12, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
- ^ Corales, Nestor (December 26, 2014). "'Praybeyt Benjamin' tops MMFF opening day". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
- ^ "'Praybeyt Benjamin,' 'Feng Shui' earn P260M in 4 days". ABS-CBN News. December 29, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
- ^ Balbin, Sherwin Allan (December 29, 2014). "The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin Tops MMFF 2014 & Earns P172 Million In 4 Days!". Philippine Edition. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
- ^ Marasigan, Zig (December 27, 2014). "[MMFF 2014] 'Praybeyt Benjamin 2' Review: Show me the money". Rappler. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
- ^ Salvador, Bubbles (December 28, 2014). "MMFF 2014 Review: The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin". Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
- ^ "MMFF names first 4 official entries for 2020; 'Praybeyt Benjamin 3' confirmed". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
- ^ Policarpio, Allan (July 28, 2020). "Fear, uncertainty take a toll on Vice Ganda's performance". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
- ^ a b Gabinete, Jojo (October 28, 2020). "Praybeyt Benjamin 3, hindi aabot sa MMFF 2020? KimJe movie, makapasok kaya sa MMFF?" [Praybeyt Benjamin 3, could not make it in time for MMFF 2020? KimJe movie, could be included in MMFF?] (in Tagalog and English). Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
External links
- The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin at IMDb