Runtime: 146 minutes
Directed by: Siddharth Anand
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia, Ashutosh Rana
From: Yash Raj Films
Yes, it's illogical, silly, bombastic, patriotic... and that's why I dig this. Having seen director Siddharth Anand's last movie theatrically (War) I expected a gleefully over the top action-adventure extravaganza which spanned the globe as a soldier for the federal government goes after someone who has gone rogue. Yes, this movie is quite similar to War although there are various differences I can't get into as both movies would be massively spoiled.
This time, Shah Rukh Khan (a massive star in that part of the world who pulled a Ryan Gosling and did not act for several years) came back as the titular character, a great soldier who runs his own tactical unit as part of the Indian government. The villain (hilariously named JIM) does have a reason for having a hard-on against his own government yet that hatred has turned him into an evil bastard. Another plot point revolves around Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed piece of territory that has been feuded over between India, Pakistan and China for literally decades; by the way, I will NOT offer my opinion on that conflict! Deepika Padukone is the female agent from Pakistan who is part of this story; sure, she is eye candy but is also “a strong female character.” By the way, only afterwards did I learn Khan is in his 50's... that was a complete surprise to me.
From the very beginning, how goofy this is becomes patently obvious. Notwithstanding, those that dig the 5th to 7th Fast & Furious films and their absurdities just might enjoy the similar formula applied here. Whether in India, Dubai, Spain, Russia (they did begin filming this before that country became the world's enemy around this time last year) or other locations, I'm not too surprised that Hindi picture is a massive hit in India and even in the United States the per-screen average is rather good. I appeared to be the only white person in attendance but that may be an outlier for all I know. It's something to be happy about that the movies from that country-no matter the language or what the primary genre is-are finding more traction in the West.
No comments:
Post a Comment