Sinduja R

You can do better with your time.

Terrible! I really don't care what genius symbolism lies behind a movie or how well shot it is IF I feel the immense need to fast forward the movie and further, its scenes are revulsive and provoke anxiety for all the wrong reasons. Please skip this. It has been conceived and celebrated by people who get all high and artsy whenever there is any abstraction, regardless of whether it furthers the movie watching experience. This movie will make sense to anyone ONLY on reading an explainer after watching it. I hope they gave out explainer documents in the theatre.

The movie is too good! The entire film takes place over the course of one night. From establishing a drug crime to bringing different, unrelated characters into it, building the pace and finally resolving it, there is never a moment when one is bored. And between all this, the writer manages to include some good humor and emotion. There were so many scenes when the director manages to switch from a nail biting sequence to a light hearted one within a scene. Lovely acting by everyone and awesome music! No time wasted in unnecessary romance or flash back. If I had to point out flaws, maybe it would be some over the top heroism and slightly unbelievable action sequences in the second half. Overall, if you loved Theeran Adhigaram Ondru, you are sure to enjoy this movie as well!

I have already seen 'The Invisible Guest', so my review is highly influenced by having already known the plot while watching this movie. Somehow Badla doesn't hold up to its original. Like I said, my view might be biased by not being at the edge of my seat since I already knew the ending. Yet, I feel that the original Spanish movie inculcated suspense and mystery far better in its plot. The big question though is 'Why?' because this movie is an EXTREMELY faithful remake, with the only difference being they have swapped the gender of the roles of the protagonists. That is, in the Spanish film, a guy is the lead and an elder woman becomes his lawyer. So why does this movie feel a little bland and flat? Perhaps the gloomy setting of London Autumn didn't feel fitting. Would the movie have worked better had they shifted the whole premise to Mumbai and its outskirts? It's hard to say. Tapsee is a good actress, no doubt. Yet, something was missing, considering most of the movie is a conversation between her and Amitabh. Could it be that since we have already seen a similar chemistry of theirs in Pink, this one felt repetitive? I feel a different actor would have worked in Amitabh's place, too, not due to want of acting prowess. But Amitabh is just being Amitabh everywhere. Whether it is a JustDial ad or Pink or Badla, I somehow feel the vibe and body language of his character is becoming a bit predictable. If you have not watched the Spanish film (and do not intend to), you should watch Badla. Simply because the story is brilliant. But between the two, you will enjoy the Spanish one way better.

A good show to remind you that you are still poor. Very, very poor.

I am clearly in the minority here, but well the minority deserves a voice..:D So, here I say it: this movie is being grossly over celebrated. And by doing this, not only are we forgiving the numerous flaws of the movie, but we are setting a bad standard of what future movie directors will aspire to make. KGF is a breath of fresh air to the industry here, I get it, but perhaps the responses to the movie could have been more balanced, imo. Appreciate it for the cinematography, the powerful BGM, some creative writing, but boo the illogical heroism, general lack of logic, and some lazy writing that simply wants to emotionally manipulate the audience. Overall, the movie is a 6. Definitely not a 9.5 it is being rated as. If we want generations to continue watching a movie where one hero should be able to bash up 50 to 60 men single handedly, well! He can walk on petrol with a cigar lit, he can dodge a hundred bullets, and he is invincible. Of course, a hero who kills pretty much in every second scene should also have a conscience right? Because we can't risk seeing a bad man as a hero. So the hero stops traffic for miles and crosses the road - all for what? To give a bun to a poor lady and preach on the values of motherhood. See? We have a strong man AND a good man. So, worship him, please? Add to this a namesake hero worship song and a namesake heroine who first hates the hero and then adores him hearing his bun motherhood speech. The second half gets slightly better - but again, only because the bad guys are shown to be SO bad - like, literally monsters - that we want to see them defeated. To conclude, it is simply a new twist to an old tale, accompanied by cliches.

For at least an hour after watching this film, I had an unsettling, mildly nervous feeling - the kind you feel when you witness some shocking or fearful incident. And I think that speaks much on how good this film was! Ratchasan is a fine crime thriller - perhaps the best I have seen in Tamil cinema in recent years. There is ample suspense and more importantly, a superb setting up of events to build tension and nervousness. There was complete silence among the audience during the first half and the anxiety was evident. When you begin to pray for the victims and don't want to meet a killer like this even in your nightmares, it shows the fine manner in which the script has been thought of. The BGM is amazing and makes the proceedings even more tense. Please go watch this film in the theatre. It probably released on a wrong weekend, when it will be overshadowed by 96 and NOTA, but it is important we support this film. It is much better than Imaika Nodigal, which was the latest hit film in this genre. My only complaint will probably be that the second half drags a bit. Some editing could have worked wonders. The film is at least 15 minutes too long than necessary, but this, although unfortunate, can definitely be overlooked. A special mention to Vishnu's acting. Perhaps one of our underrated actors, I hope we see more of him on screen. The director's previous Mundasupatti was a feel-good film that brought a smile. This will do the opposite, and therein lies its success.

This is a great movie from start to finish... ONLY if you are in the fifth grade or less. If not, you can watch it for the good attempts at the almost-convincing VFX. But be prepared for some assault on your IQ. Firstly, I was really rooting for this movie before watching it. I was traumatised for a few hours after the director's previous 'Miruthan',(India's first zombie movie apparently), and not because of how terrifying the zombies were, but how poor the VFX was. So I didn't have great expectations for this one. However, after the trailer, I was surprised that the visuals seemed quite good, and was hoping for a miracle. Tik Tik Tik got close to delivering on the miracle, but soon stumbled within the first half hour and hit logic harder than an asteroid. There is suspension of disbelief and then, there is suspension of any thinking faculty at all. TTT wants the second from us. An asteroid that is huge enough to destroy two states is headed toward India. And yet, none of the other countries' space organisations detect or discuss this with India, and no news channels are aware of this. The ISRO decides to tackle this by blasting the asteroid, and for that, they need to steal a nuclear missile from a highly secure space organization. (No evacuation plans for the people who could die because surely, it is very easy to steal missiles from other countries' space stations). To steal the missile, they decide to recruit a thief and magician who is serving jail time (because our country that is confident enough to steal missiles from space doesn't have a single skilled military person). Now, all these events are not impossible...perhaps in one in a million causal chains of events (that could only be imagined by the director), these can happen. This is suspension of disbelief. I would have been okay if this was all. Here come the better parts: the magician and his friends get only 2 days of training for a space journey! One of his friends has a hacking software that can hack anything - from IPL referee boards to even China's space satellite software!! Jayam Ravi's spacecraft crashes on Moon (!), and is badly damaged, and yet, they are able to take off after a few minutes of heroism on the Moon! Cutting the hydrogen supply of an advanced spacecraft is as simple as cutting the wires of a bike!! There is a 200 ton nuclear missile that can wipe out an entire country, and yet, there is only a single level of safety for it, which our Jayam Ravi is able to bypass with some silly magic tricks. There is more. And this is the main problem with the movie. And I write so much of the problem although there were fun, enjoyable moments because it spoiled for me an otherwise excellent attempt. For the budget, it delivers so well on VFX and visuals. I wish wish wish they had hired an actual scientist to assist with the script. There is only so much of disbelief that can be suspended. Beyond that, it feels like we are watching a well-made cartoon. When they have put so much resources on making believable graphics and sets, how much would it have cost them to check common sense elements? What could have been a truly path breaking movie has been relegated to the shelves of 'Masala flick' because of lack of sound research. If only!