"What is perhaps most striking about Metro Manila is Jake Macapagal’s outstanding performance. Playing the honourable and moralistic lead character of Oscar, Macapagal is incredibly likeable, endearing and convincing throughout, proving his undeniable talent of portraying a wide range of emotions with a unique flair and subtlety"

This is helped along by the outstanding – and so endearing – performance by Macapagal, who earns the trust and sympathy of the viewer from the word go, as you dread anything ominous happening to him, caring for him as you would a friend.

"Macapagal conveys the underlying motives of his character in the subtlest of ways, a cop so far entrenched in his own corruption that he probably believes what he’s doing is right"

"Jake Macapagal’s turn as the plucky schmuck protagonist is stellar"

"Played with undeniable and awards-worthy elegance by Jake Macapagal, this is one of the most caring and altruistic husband/father characters since George Bailey. Oscar is the common man, both fearful and brave when it comes to facing harsh realities"

"Macapagal brings the perfect amount of confidence and vulnerability to the role that makes Oscar as compelling as he is. This is a first-rate piece of acting, most of it deeply internalized, with burrowed emotion popping out in explosive moments of visceral intensity, especially during the positively engrossing final act, which finds Oscar making one desperate decision after another in order to set up his family for life".

"Jake Macapagal is the heart and soul of Sean Ellis’s blistering and propulsive crime thriller Metro Manila"