Friendly Fire 2024
Sinopsis
Hazel, an employee at an internet cafe who’s a fan of Project Xandata (a real first-person shooter made in the Philippines) gets the attention of a pro team founder when Hazel beats her team single handedly in one night. Hazel’s game play goes viral, making her an instant sensation.
Review
Loisa Andalio stars as Hazel, employee at internet café Clicktopia, where her skills at first-person shooter Project Xandata bring her to the attention of a pro team manager Sonya (Coleen Garcia), when she wipes her teammates to the floor. After that goes viral, Hazel finds herself with an offer she can’t refuse, a chance to leave behind her poor background and live the high life as a pro gamer training for the international Grand Prix in Hong Kong. But armed with her lucky vintage mouse, will she be good enough to face off against the team’s ex-star, now key rival with the Korean team, Adrian Ho?
While Red can turn his hand to any genre, the lightness of touch on Friendly Fire feels a little too… light. The film might make all the right nods in the direction of an underdog sports drama, but where’s the mild peril that they might not make it? Instead, challenges between players seem easily overcome. Shouldn’t there be at least some tension here? (And indeed, what is a Mikhail Red film without some level of threat?)
There’s no doubt of Red’s passion for esports. That this is coming from a heartfelt place to boost how the industry is seen in the Philippines, and how investment is sorely needed. Notably it’s the direct flipside of Deleter, which threw a light on the explosion of the Philippines as one world’s major providers of ‘internet cleaning’ services. Red also tries to promote the space for women in the industry. Again, a valid point, but one that translates to some awkward grandiose speeches.
Somehow that doesn’t translate to how the gameplay is shown on screen, which just seem a little dull. Though that comes with the caveat that I am most definitely not the audience that this is aimed at. Any notions of gaming were lost when I upgraded my Commodore 64 to a 128, only to find programmes for the latter rather thin on the ground. Undoubtedly followers of gaming, particularly local audiences, will get more of a kick out of cameos from the likes of cosplayer and model Alodia Gosiengfiao, and the central use of Project Xandata, a real game.
