Hunting down the Hunters
A review after so long.. Not that I’ve had a silent life without watching any movies. Not that I have such a compelling lethargy to stop chasing my long time dream of being an amateur movie writer. It’s just that the long break needed a bigger motivation to write. None better than the most talented tamizh actor of my time.
The movie starts like any other. Kamal has probably never had a grand entry in any movie, it just happens. Same here. The fact that the first scene that leads into a “run of the mill” rap, has nothing to do anything with the rest of the movie is saddening. But who cares as long as the rest of the movie is watchable. Which it is.
Gruesome murders, big mystery as to why it happens. “Execution” style of the murders complicating matters worse. No direct link to anything in the past. It feels straight out of a James Patterson or an Ian Rankin novel. An officer’s daughter gets murdered and the officer and his wife leave to NY, where his daughter wanted to study later, to take their minds off it. They get killed there and Kamal (Raghavan DCP, Chennai) who investigates the murder of the daughter in India opts to go to NY to assist NYPD in the quest. Thus the story unfolds.
Big strength to the movie is the man himself. In an age where heroes half his age are aiming for comebacks, the man eases into the role like a cub to hunting. Jyotikha looks extremely pleasing on the eyes. She’s getting increasingly beautiful every passing day.. And has also acted pretty naturally one feels the Kushi days are like long gone. Paartha Mudhal Naale song was a kind of a letdown since I imagined Jo in the song. But Kamalini more than makes up for it. There’s some chemistry there, but when was that lacking with Kamal in the picture anyways..
Kamal plays the instinctive cop better than anybody I can think could’ve been a possible replacement. Probably one of his really good performances, a list I can’t count on fingers. There is a touch of Kaakha Kaakha Soorya in the storyline. When you’re doing a similar story line I guess it’s difficult to stay away from the previous hit emotion line. Thus throughout the movie you will feel that KK vibe in it. Arguably that movie had a more concrete villain and reason for villainy. IMO the reason for the villainy is not explained properly though the renaissance of the same is. But for that I guess all other links are tied.
The movie pace is as good as KK in the first half, but the latter half is very disappointing. One romantic song, typical kollywood out of the blue genre, and a dance item number, suggestive that “if it was not there one might never understand the bad guys are womanizer”, ruins the pace. I felt it more than a lot of people since I had only 15 mins from end of show to get home before the start of F1 action live. So I guess for the first time I prayed a Kamal movie ends and ends soon. Also there are a few questionable things about Kamal’s copwork in NY which ends up pretty costly later.
The music IMO is very mediocre, the background even worse. Couple of songs linger in you head especially Paartha and Manjal Veiyil. Bad guys type cast, Frechie long hairs. The relation between them is a surprise later on. The camera work is really good and pleasing. Locations also look pretty right and fit in. Bottomline is if you like Kamal this is one movie you may not want to miss.
The movie starts like any other. Kamal has probably never had a grand entry in any movie, it just happens. Same here. The fact that the first scene that leads into a “run of the mill” rap, has nothing to do anything with the rest of the movie is saddening. But who cares as long as the rest of the movie is watchable. Which it is.
Gruesome murders, big mystery as to why it happens. “Execution” style of the murders complicating matters worse. No direct link to anything in the past. It feels straight out of a James Patterson or an Ian Rankin novel. An officer’s daughter gets murdered and the officer and his wife leave to NY, where his daughter wanted to study later, to take their minds off it. They get killed there and Kamal (Raghavan DCP, Chennai) who investigates the murder of the daughter in India opts to go to NY to assist NYPD in the quest. Thus the story unfolds.
Big strength to the movie is the man himself. In an age where heroes half his age are aiming for comebacks, the man eases into the role like a cub to hunting. Jyotikha looks extremely pleasing on the eyes. She’s getting increasingly beautiful every passing day.. And has also acted pretty naturally one feels the Kushi days are like long gone. Paartha Mudhal Naale song was a kind of a letdown since I imagined Jo in the song. But Kamalini more than makes up for it. There’s some chemistry there, but when was that lacking with Kamal in the picture anyways..
Kamal plays the instinctive cop better than anybody I can think could’ve been a possible replacement. Probably one of his really good performances, a list I can’t count on fingers. There is a touch of Kaakha Kaakha Soorya in the storyline. When you’re doing a similar story line I guess it’s difficult to stay away from the previous hit emotion line. Thus throughout the movie you will feel that KK vibe in it. Arguably that movie had a more concrete villain and reason for villainy. IMO the reason for the villainy is not explained properly though the renaissance of the same is. But for that I guess all other links are tied.
The movie pace is as good as KK in the first half, but the latter half is very disappointing. One romantic song, typical kollywood out of the blue genre, and a dance item number, suggestive that “if it was not there one might never understand the bad guys are womanizer”, ruins the pace. I felt it more than a lot of people since I had only 15 mins from end of show to get home before the start of F1 action live. So I guess for the first time I prayed a Kamal movie ends and ends soon. Also there are a few questionable things about Kamal’s copwork in NY which ends up pretty costly later.
The music IMO is very mediocre, the background even worse. Couple of songs linger in you head especially Paartha and Manjal Veiyil. Bad guys type cast, Frechie long hairs. The relation between them is a surprise later on. The camera work is really good and pleasing. Locations also look pretty right and fit in. Bottomline is if you like Kamal this is one movie you may not want to miss.
