The plot involving vigilantes and hitmen are occasionally part of the Philippine action fanfare, but the plot involving two hitmen against each other is a rarity. This movie showcases the battle between the young & quick and the old & wise. Two hitmen with different strengths face each other in "Duwelo".
Veteran hitman Ramon Aguila (Eddie Garcia) works for philanthropist Don Miguel Zaragosa (Luis Gonzales). Through Don Miguel's orders, Aguila kills Tesano, Pineda and Domingo in separate occasions. Meanwhile, Allan (Zoren Legaspi) kills two foreigners in separate occasions. It is revealed that he works for Ismael Greco (Bernard Bonnin), the head of a drug syndicate who orders Allan to kill them. In a video regarding the death of Pineda, Ismael finds out that Aguila is the killer and assigns Alan to follow the former to gather clues on whom he works for. This begins a cat-and-mouse scenario between Aguila and Allan, where they indirectly find each other's whereabouts. It is later on revealed that the people Aguila was assigned to kill are allies of Ismael. In the past, Don Miguel filed a case against all four of them for the death of his daughter due to drug overdose, but eventually lost. Don Miguel's last assignment for Aguila is to kill Ismael in order for the former to fully get the justice he's longing for. Just as Aguila kills Ismael and his men, Allan kills Don Miguel and his bodyguards and kidnaps the latter's step-granddaughter Camille (Allyzon Lualhati). This prompts Aguila to face Allan in a duel inside an abandoned factory, wherein he'll rescue Camille from the drum if he wins. Eventually, Aguila wins the duel and rescues Camille from the drum being poured with water. Just as they escape, Allan bombs the entire factory before he dies. After visiting Don Miguel's grave with Camille, Aguila is killed by an unknown assassin.
The story has some elements from the 1995 movie Assassins starring Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas. However, unlike the latter, Duwelo's story has more substance. Elements of revenge are present in the story, wherein a philanthropist hires a skilled hitman to kill all the people responsible for the death of his daughter. The movie did away with a couple of elements usually found in a typical Philippine action movie: the lengthy dramatic scenes and a having leading lady.
This is one of the very few action movies where Eddie Garcia managed to slack up without resorting to his typical manoyisms, except for the first scene where he blows up Tesano in the resthouse he's in. Zoren Legaspi is very effective in playing the villain and is fast-paced and flexible in performing fight scenes, especially when it comes to his fight scenes with Jimmy Kho and other men in the Pier. He has learned a lot from the 1992 movie Shotgun Banjo, where he played the titular character. Allyzon Lualhati is just a mere decoration as Don Miguel's step-granddaughter and her only use in the film was being Alan's only key to bring Aguila to him.
The action scenes are well directed, including the the highlight of the movie, which is the duel between Manoy and Zoren in an abandoned factory. Manoy was able to keep up with Zoren in their scenes together. The only implausible scene is where Zoren slides under a trailer with his motorcycle after shooting a foreigner and his men inside a car, gets his motorcycle up and keeps it running after the car jumps into the trailer and explodes.
Overall, Duwelo is a breath of fresh air from the formulaic Philippine action movies at that time. It is one of the best directive collaborations of Phillip Kho and Teddy Gomez. It's a shame that, just like their first collaboration Sandata starring Zoren Legaspi, it didn't perform that well when it was released to theaters despite having Manoy in the movie. Nonetheless, the duo would later on direct a slew of films for Regal throughout the late 90s, most of them starring Monsour del Rosario, who previously worked with Kho in a series of Hong Kong-produced movies.
