Thursday, May 12, 2016

24 review: "Suriya heaves a sigh of relief after a hiatus of 2-4 years!!!"

After a couple of months in the Middle East, it's great to be back on home soil & what better way to celebrate it than in the confines of one of the best theaters in the country. Since I had a halt in Chennai, my buddy Naresh insisted that I watch a movie in Satyam & even booked tickets for me. So first & foremost, I have to thank my bro for that as I did enjoy the experience. But was it just the ambience or did Suriya's "24" enhance the effect???



The film unfolds in 1990 as a reputed scientist, Sethuraman (Suriya) invents a watch which rewrites the concept of time & makes time travel possible. However, his joy was short-lived as his evil twin Atreya was hell bent on claiming the invention for his devious schemes. Though Sethu manages to save his son & prevent Atreya from getting his hands on the watch, it came at the cost of the lives of his wife & himself. Years passes by & the kid grows into a fine young man, Mani oblivious of his father's invention while the paralyzed Atreya wakes up from coma and hoped to reclaim the watch with the intention of reversing his physical condition. So will Mani realize the worth of the invention before it's too late & stop his uncle???

Unlike other directors, I do have to admit I haven't watched much of Vikram Kumar's previous ventures except for Madhavan's psychological horror thriller "13B"which I really enjoyed. In the sci-fi "24" apart from donning the director's hat, Vikram has also penned the script. As a craftsman, he has done an impressive job as the film was well executed though the VFX effects could have been better in some sequences. With regard to the story as such, it doesn't offer anything new due to numerous movies with similar story lines, but that doesn't imply it was tedious for the audience as it provided adequate dosage of comedy & twists. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the music was by AR Rahman as it was pretty average while the BGM was spot on. Tirru deserves praise for his visuals while Prawin Pudi could have been more judicious in the editing.

After numerous failed efforts in the form of "7am arivu". "Maatraan", "Maasu", Suriya's tryst with sci-fi finally bore fruit as this one will surely woo the audience. As always, Suriya was fantastic & inspite of essaying three different characters he made sure each of it was distinct. He absolutely rocked as the antagonist be it with the expressions or body language & it will surely rank as one of his best performances to date. As for the rest of the cast, when it is 3 Suriyas on screen they barely had much scope but still managed to do their parts adequately be it Saranya Ponvannan, Ajay, Nithya Menen or Samantha (as eye candy).

Verdict: As per latest reports, the film is on its way to become a blockbuster & provides Suriya a much needed break from the lean patch he had endured for quite a while. Vikram has already announced a sequel "24 Decoded" which should materialize seeing the response to this movie. With sci-fi being a prominent genre, the theme as such wont appear novel but it has sufficient ingredients to keep us entertained. In short, do check it out for Suriya's performance!!!

Rating: 3/5

Regards...Ben








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