The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin

2014 film by Wenn V. Deramas

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The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Wenn V. Deramas
Screenplay by	Keiko A. Aquino Wenn V. Deramas Danno Kristoper C. Mariquit
Story by	Kriz Gazmen Keiko A. Aquino Wenn V. Deramas Danno Kristoper C. Mariquit
Based on	Private Benjamin by Howard Zieff
Produced by	Vincent Del Rosario III Veronique Del Rosario-Corpus Charo Santos-Concio Malou N. Santos Vic Del Rosario Jr.
Starring	Vice Ganda Richard Yap Tom Rodriguez Alex Gonzaga Bimby Aquino-Yap
Cinematography	Elmer Despa
Edited by	Marya Ignacio
Music by	Vincent de Jesus
Production companies	ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc. Viva Films
Distributed by	Star Cinema
Release date	December 25, 2014 (2014-12-25)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	Philippines
Languages	Filipino English
Box office	₱455 million (US$9 million)

The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin is a 2014 Philippine action comedy parody film written and directed by Wenn V. Deramas. It is the sequel to the 2011 film 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.

Plot

In Paris, Praybeyt Benjamin and his platoon defeat a horde of zombies, leading to his promotion to Colonel. Assigned to General Wilson Chua, Benjamin fails a mission against terrorists and is rescued by his grandfather, who sacrifices himself. Facing dismissal, Benjamin is assigned to guard General Chua's son, Bimbee, who has clues about future terrorist attacks. While watching over Bimbee, Benjamin clashes with Misty and housemaid Gundina but learns about Bimbee's lack of familial love. After defusing a second bomb and being fired, Benjamin is reinstated when terrorists abduct Bimbee. He rescues Bimbee at a mall, defuses the bomb, and flies off with him on an umbrella.

In the mid-credits, Benjie celebrates his birthday and decides to take a break from service. General Chua assigns him a juvenile delinquent named James Anred, and Benjie accepts due to James's good looks.

Cast of characters

Main cast

Vice Ganda as Col. Benjamin "Benjie" Santos VIII

Supporting cast

Richard Yap as Commanding General Officer 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 Gel. 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
Tess Antonio as Lisa 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
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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

Planned sequel

After the Leap Day 2016 passing of Deramas, a third film was announced as an entry to the 46th Metro Manila Film Festival. Vice Ganda was expected to reprise his role. Filming for the Praybeyt Benjamin sequel was delayed due to logistics issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainties caused by the non-renewal of ABS-CBN's broadcast franchise. As a script-based submission to the film festival, Praybeyt Benjamin would have to be produced by November 30, 2020. The film was not listed the final ten official entries of the film festival announced in November 2020.

References

"ABS-CBN 1Q 2016 Investor's Briefing Presentation Materials" (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. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
"'Praybeyt Benjamin,' 'Feng Shui' earn P260M in 4 days". ABS-CBN News. December 29, 2014. Archived from the original on December 28, 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. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. 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. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
"MMFF names first 4 official entries for 2020; 'Praybeyt Benjamin 3' confirmed". ABS-CBN News. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. 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.
^ 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. Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2020.