We remember very intensely disliking Sayen when it was released six months before its sequel, Sayen: Desert Road. Our point was that nothing had really happened in the runtime of one and a half hours. As we sat down to watch the sequel, we did not have many expectations, but our review was far more favorable than that of the prequel. First of all, we believe that this movie can be watched as a standalone. That is the benefit of not much happening in the first film. Secondly, while the action wasn’t as impressive, there just seemed to be more to the story, even though it was all just one big chase. Finally, we like the villain of the sequel more than that of the prequel. He just seems more worthy and justifies Sayen’s long struggle. But we are not fans of how Sayen herself seemed to take a backseat to the events of the film. Despite being the protagonist, we did not realize her grit and intelligence the way we had in the prequel, and since this is primarily an action movie, it felt like a disservice not to focus on that. The fact remains that we would have liked more to happen in the film. We are already aware of the heroes, the villains, and their modus operandi. Why not keep at least one of these a secret and center the story around the unfolding of the mystery? It was a basic change but would have added so much to the film. But let us look at the recap and ending of Sayen: Desert Road.
Spoiler Alert
How Will Sayen Take Down Acteon?
It’s been five years since the events of the first film, and Sayen is still out to find evidence against Acteon and bring down the corporation that murdered her grandmother in cold blood. Support for Acteon has started becoming shaky as their harmful methods and negligence of the lives of the natives are becoming common knowledge. But that is a corporation with huge amounts of money backing it, and any protest is always silenced in due course. Even the natives need employment and money to survive, which is provided by the corporation, forcing the people to give up their protests. The area where Sayen currently lives has always been dependent on farming, but that was never enough to keep the people fed. That is why when Acteon comes in with its jobs and money, the money has to listen. What should have been done was that the government should not have neglected the areas for so long. That wouldn’t have left room for exploitative organizations to further ruin them, but racism is often a system, and unless there are economic repercussions for the privileged class, they will do nothing about it.
Sayen breaks into the organization and accidentally kills one of the employees, which ends up with her on the news as a deranged terrorist who is trying to hinder the noble work of Acteon. But Sayen has the support of the local natives, who thank her for the work she is trying to do. Sayen gets help in the form of Quimal, whose father, Tito Chaile, was a math teacher and had formerly accepted money from Acteon to give them permission to work on the native land. On the face of it, Tito was a traitor. But he had ended up building a school with the money he took, which was for the benefit of the community itself. Sayen wants the records of the money that Acteon spent in gaining these permissions, as that would show how underhandedly the company had operated, sparking an investigation that would finally bring it down. But the road to that proves to be more difficult than she might have thought.
Gasper, a goon who works for Acteon, attacks Quimal’s house to try and kill Sayen, but he ends up captured by the girls while Tito is held hostage by the other men. Gasper eventually comes over to the girls’ side as he says that he was only trying to make money in whatever way he could, which is why he worked for Acteon. Sayen finds an SD card that has all the evidence she needs. This is what she has been looking for this whole time. Sayen promises Quimal that she will free Tito, and then they will all go their own way. Before any of that could happen, Gasper turns on them, and Acteon’s goons once again capture the girls. Sayen still manages to escape, and she has to spend a few days in the desert, which ends up giving her an epiphany, in the form of her grandmother’s vision, about what matters most to her in life. Sayen finally staggers back to Tito and Quimal’s house. Since the SD card has been destroyed and there is no evidence against Acteon anymore, they have been let go so as to not raise any more suspicions due to missing persons. While Quimal is still raging to find more evidence, Sayen doesn’t want her to get involved, as she wants her to stay safe with the people she loves.
How Does Maximo Die?
Sayen may have gained a new appreciation for playing it safe, but Quimal hasn’t. She rushes to the Acteon headquarters, hoping to find something that would build their case against them. Naturally, since she has gone into the lion’s den, she is in danger, and Sayen rushes to protect her. Quimal doesn’t know that Gasper had made a copy of the SD card and given it to Sayen, which meant that they had the evidence they needed. He also wanted to join Sayen’s quest, as he had been wanting to get away from the place and that life for a long time now. As Sayen goes to rescue Quimal, the girl has already realized that what she had tried to do was rather foolish. The girls escape, but Gasper is shot in the crossfire. However, Maximo Torres, who is the father of Anthony Torres, has had enough of Sayen. She had killed Anthony at the end of the first movie, as he was the villain during that time. Anthony was Maximo’s only child, and as much as Maximo used to berate him, he cannot forgive Sayen for what she did, in addition to the fact that she is a thorn in his side. Sayen makes sure that Quimal escapes, but briefly, Anthony gets the better of Sayen. He may have killed her, but at the end of Sayen: Desert Road, he is killed by Bykov on the instructions of the higher-ups. Sayen had met Bykov in the first movie, and right now, he tells her that Anthony was just one factor in the entire set-up. There were many others running the machine, and Sayen couldn’t possibly get to all of them. Perhaps he was telling the truth, but there is no dissuading Sayen. She spares Bykov’s life and goes back.
Will There Be A Third Movie?
Since Maximo has died, all the corruption and mistakes are blamed on him, and the corporation proceeds with the project, saying they are benefiting the community. This means that Sayen has a lot more struggle ahead of her.
During Sayen: Desert Road‘s ending, Sayen meets Governor Salazar, and while she doesn’t kill him, she makes it clear that gaining the evidence is not impossible for her. However, as she is walking down the road, she is kidnapped by some people in a car. No doubt they are people of Acteon, and if they were as smart as they should be, they would kill Sayen. However, if they want to know what evidence she has or who else has it, they may hold her captive, and as long as she is alive, she can escape. A third Sayen movie will tell us what is going on.
Final Thoughts
Sayen: Desert Road is certainly a better movie than the first one. It actually discussed the lives and situations of the natives and gave us a glimpse of the system that makes victims out of them. We would still say that it could have done more, but this is okay for now.
