There's always a deep sense of loss when promising directors such as Arman Reyes loses his touch and turns out a terrible movie. This film is, no matter how one looks at it, is simply awful.
Take the characterization of the three brothers, for instance. Why are they so ineffectual? How could Nora Aunor have remained the servile sister in such a household? Even the sequence in which Mat Ranillo offers them two cases of beer is inconclusive: we never know what the effect of the "bribery" is on Ranillo's courtship.
Or take Jonee Gamboa, who suddenly transforms into a responsible father when he inherits wealth. No logical explanation is ever offered for his fantastic change of behavior. Even his chronic cough simply vanishes. Or take the supporting characters in the market: whatever happens to Louella, Ike Lozada, Inday Badiday, and German Moreno? They seem merely to have gotten old (but not make-up wise). If there are going to be minor characters anyway, why not make use of them to move the plot or the theme forward?
There is merit, of course, in the revenge theme. One applauds when Aunor refuses to have Celia Rodriguez kiss her foot. But someone used to the religious undertone of local movies can easily guess that our heroine, no matter how much she wants to get back at archvillain Rodriguez, will never go through with such an unchristian act. There are, in other words, no surprise in this film.
The only surprise is that Reyes has allowed himself to make a thoroughly commercial film. Perhaps the real problem lies with the komiks roots of the story. Komiks is a medium that has, in hundreds of films, proven to be unadaptahle to the screen. This film proves it beyond a doubt. After all, anyone seeing Charlie Davao and Greggy Liwag look so lost in their badly written roles cannot help but give up on komiks based movies.
One question says it all: what is the relationship of Palengke Queen to the film? Except for the first sequence no use whatsoever is made of this ill-advised title.