The first few minutes of ‘Mulawin versus Ravena’ offer a glimpse of the origins of the winged-creatures and their rich mythology, revisiting the events both in the original 2004 series and the movie which served as a sequel, in 2005.
Nostalgia is strong by this point, but the impressive visual flair the show’s cinematographers managed to pull off, makes the sentiment even more compelling. It gets even more salient when it somehow paid tribute to its original lead players—Aguiluz (Richard Gutierrez) and Alwina (Angel Locsin) whose appearance was made blurry—while playing the iconic theme song, ‘Ikaw Nga’, originally recorded by South Border.
It then proceeds to what happened in the wake of Aguiluz’s death (this may come as a surprise to those who haven’t seen the film), the first of which is an Alyna (now played by Heart Evangelista) still struggling to cope with her tragedies, while also adjusting to a new life away from Avila, the kingdom of the Mulawin race.
With her son with Aguiluz, Almiro, she came with Gabriel (Dennis Trillo) and descended down far to the plains to begin a new life. But their past and who they are will haunt them both.
Gabriel, being the son of Halconia’s king, is among the Ravenas—Mulawin’s mortal enemies; Alwina is a Mulawin, who happened to be the mother of Almiro, the son of Gabriel’s greatest rival, Aguiluz.
But the ensuing conflict doesn’t particularly emerge from this fact; it comes from the bitter realization that Alwina will never forget Aguiluz, and will never give up her love, for him. It’s not that hard to guess Gabriel’s character trajectory, to be honest, but you got to give Don Michael Perez props for making the shifts and transitions as seamless as possible.
Trillo’s character remains of great substance throughout the 48-min pilot episode, and the actor has arguably delivered the most remarkable performance of the premiere. Be that as it may, his artistic verve won’t save the cast’s generally inadequate presentation.
There are some questionable choices carried out by Alwina that made Evangelista’s portrayal even blander, practically undermining the merits of the character established by Angel Locsin.
There is also this character played by Carla Abellana, which suffered both the character’s limited air space, and the actress’ middling performance, itself.
Well, I’ll keep my hopes high for better opportunities in the coming episodes.
Be that as it may, a commendable camera work makes it’s easier to look past those flaws. The strength of this pilot, really, doesn’t entirely rest on the narrative’s absorbing plot, but also on its sweeping cinematography that features breath taking aerial shots, which came out thematically appropriate, albeit show’s tendency to overuse and deploy it at wrong places.
There are some editing flaws in the process, but the renders they were able to demonstrate are stunning enough to create an intriguing visual feast, my favorites of which, a panoramic aerial shot of Avila, and Gabriel’s gripping transformation that introduces his ravena wings, stretched open-wide away from his back.
The universe that Perez aspires to create in ‘Mulawin Versus Ravena’ seems inherently interesting, its appeal growing as you delve deeper into its depth.
It also helps that it extends its realms towards another worlds realized in another GMA-7 shows, most popularly, the recently-concluded ‘Encantadia’. This choice creates even more intriguing possibilities, and while the show itself persistently stumbles upon the pitfalls of local television clichés, it manages to cloak itself with inviting facades, which what those who adore this genre, naturally root for.
And by all means, ‘Mulawin Versus Ravena’ isn’t perfect, but that may be a good thing for a riveting saga with soaring aspirations. (JE)
