An ambitious, but somewhat underwhelming action film
Vikram Evaluate: Lokesh Kanagaraj brings collectively the espionage-filled world of Kamal Haasan’s 1986 movie Vikram and his personal 2019 movie Kaithi’s action-filled world of drug lords and cops in Vikram, a predictably plotted motion movie that’s extra fascinated with increasing its universe with out actually immersing us into it. It holds the mysteries of a spy movie and supplies the thrills of an motion movie to some extent, but it surely doesn’t really feel wholly passable and fails to go away us with the adrenaline rush {that a} movie with such excessive ambitions guarantees.
The movie does begins off intriguingly, when Karnan (Kamal Haasan), the daddy of a martyred cop Prapanchan (Kalidas Jayaram) is killed. We study that there was a sequence of such killings with a gaggle of masked males taking accountability for it and calling it their conflict in opposition to the system. Police chief Jose (Chemban Vinod Jose) brings in a black ops crew headed by Amar (Fahadh Faasil), who begins digging into Karnan’s life. The chief suspect is Sandhanam (Vijay Sethupathi), a fearsome drug lord with a big household, who’s trying to find a cargo of uncooked materials that would make him a kingpin. In the meantime, Amar is puzzled by the various variations of Karnan. Was he an alcoholic father grieving over the lack of his son, a womaniser or far more? Extra importantly, is he lifeless or alive?
Vikram works finest in its first half, once we see Amar and his crew attempting to make sense of the murders and observe down the killers. Regardless that these parts have little or no of Kamal Haasan, we hold sensing his presence, each because the character and because the actor. There are nods to Kamal’s oeuvre, from Nayakan to Anbe Sivam, and recognizing them presents some minor thrills. The actor, who’s in action-star mode right here, additionally will get a whistle-worthy second, which results in the interval. And Vijay Sethupathi appears to be taking off from the place he left in Grasp, taking part in a ruthless villain.
However as soon as the easy-to-guess thriller round Karnan is cleared, the narrative turns into slightly straight-faced. A small bunch of cops ought to maintain out in opposition to a military of gangsters. It’s much like what we received in Kaithi, however right here, it’s much less efficient.
To his credit score, Lokesh tries to offer an emotional undercurrent, with a sub-plot involving Karnan and Prapanchan’s child, but it surely isn’t affecting sufficient. And the arcs involving Amar and Sandhanam, too, flip predictable. Fahadh’s Amar will get roughly written off whereas Vijay Sethupathi comes throughout as attempting too laborious. Narain, as Bejoy, the trustworthy cop from Kaithi, can be given the brief shrift. Even the much-publicised cameo by Suriya, which acts as a set-up for the subsequent installment within the ‘Lokesh Kanagaraj Universe’, is a tad underwhelming.
The motion scenes, whereas solidly choreographed, by no means go away us with a rush. However, in a movie crammed with motion heroes, the most important mass second is available in a stunt scene involving a feminine character (a maid/spy, performed by Vasanthi). Vikram wanted extra such moments to be actually memorable.
Additionally See: ‘Vikram’ film launch LIVE updates
