Roja– A Soapy Action Thriller Because Why Not

It’s a Filipino action series, of course it's also a soap opera.

It starts with a love triangle.

A love triangle with a toxic male and problematic women in desperate circumstances, that inevitably sets off a hostage situation and disproportionate carnage.

If we’re being really accurate, there's more than one love triangle – more of like a love web—which is kind of an overkill, but the action makes up for it.

The story revolves around unlikely childhood friends: Liam Roja (Donny Pangilinan), scion of the wealthy Roja family that owns La Playa Roja, and Olsen Bonifacio (Kyle Echarri), a hardworking security staff and son of Liam’s mother’s best friend, and Luna (Maymay Entrata), a chef at La Playa Roja who worked side-by-side with Liam in the kitchen.

All three grow up at the resort and had a tight bond, but Liam and Olsen find themselves at odds for several reasons, mostly involving Liam’s parents and Olsen’s mother- who had their own complicated relationships with each other. Luna tries to get her two best friends to reconcile to no avail.

In the middle of their tiff, a mob of highly-trained, organized criminals threaten Liam’s family and the guests, and take them hostage for Php50M per hostage ($2.5M).

Against all odds, the former close-knit friends need to band together to protect their families and help the hostages escape the island, regardless of whether they can resolve their differences or not.

What ensues is a chess match with the leader of the hostage-takers, Emil (Joel Torre), who realizes he is up against more than he bargained for.
 
It is also later on that the Roja family finds out that the motive for the crime was beyond money.

The cinematography was limited in variety as most of the scenes occurred on the island resort- something that viewers of its predecessor, Incognito (ABS-CBN).
 
While there was a limitation in the cinematography, the diversity was in the ensemble cast. It featured characters from all walks of life: hardworking, loyal resort employees-most of whom have lived in the island for most of their lives, a senator’s party-going son, influencers, medical professionals, the architect and engineer couple that designed the resort (whose knowledge of the physical layout came handy in their quest for freedom).

The writers may have had too much story to tell with the ensemble cast each getting back stories, and all these story arcs going on through the hostage crisis kept the plot going when there were lulls in the main story.

Soapy, but fun, action-drama Roja is a bingeworthy watch with a premier cast and exciting newcomers.

Roja is streaming on Netflix, IWant,Kapamilya Channel, A2Z, ALLTV2, and Kapamilya Online Live (KOL)