Saturday, October 5, 2019

War review: "Visual orgasm!!!"

On the eve of Gandhiji's 150th birth anniversary, the audience were treated to two big banner movies that had hit the screens across the globe. One of which was ironically named "War" which was exactly what Gandhiji had vehemently fought against over the course of his life. Incidentally, it featured Hrithik & Tiger , two of the most handsome hunks in the film industry. With the talent that both of them are blessed with in terms of shaking their leg and flexing their muscles, we can rest assured of a paisa vasool extravaganza. But more often than not, such action flicks barely has a credible story to narrate. So does this also belong to the same category & if so, can the charisma of the main leads gloss over its shortcomings???

Kabir (Hrithik Roshan), the hotshot RAW agent had gone rogue & the Govt decides to eliminate him before matters worsened further. Since he had mentored some of the finest agents that the nation had, the mission to take him down was entrusted upon his ace student Khalid (Tiger Shroff). But the question that everyone had was what made a loyal patriot like Kabir move onto the dark side???


The project has been helmed by Siddharth Anand who has quite a few flashy celluloid creations to his credit. However, none of them were quite off the top drawer though it would be fair to admit that most of them were entertainers like "Bachna Ae Haseeno" & "Bang Bang". With Yash Raj Productions bankrolling the project, the production values are through the roof with exotic locations, swanky cars & exciting action sequences being created. So this brings us to the query that most are eager to know, does it have a worthy storyline? Well Siddharth doesn’t have anyone else to credit or blame for the script as he has penned it with Aditya Chopra. There is nothing that could be termed as inventive or a fresh take on a oft narrated tale, but it still manages to capture our attention primarily coz of the earnestness of the protagonists. I also enjoyed the twist that they had planted towards the latter half since I didn’t quite expect that. On the technical side, as opposed to a solo female lead there were four action directors on board & quite a few of the sequences were impressive especially the bike chase & the Mission Impossible inspired plane stunt. Benjamin Jasper deserves applause for the scintillating visuals while the minimalist song tracks barely captured our attention.

It’s been quite a while since we had seen Hrithik is a stylish avatar & as expected, he doesn’t disappoint. He has always been a fine actor but his choice of movies has been suspect & the time gaps that he chooses between his movies are way too long for his own benefit. Surprisingly this is his second movie of the year after “Super 30” which had performed well at the box office. He has done a fine job in all aspects & shared a palpable chemistry with his co-star, Tiger. The younger Shroff was always brilliant as a dancer & in action sequences, but he invariably came up short when it came to emoting on camera. However, he has performed much better here & manages to match Hrithik in quite a few scenes especially towards the end. As for the rest, Vaani Kapoor barely had much screen space while the others were barely noticed.

Verdict: As expected, it has set the box office on fire & broke the opening day collection records which were held earlier by “Thugs of Hindostan”. So will it also end up in a similar manner??? Well I certainly don’t think so as this is way more entertaining & is a treat for the eyes. It surely provides what the audience expects from such kind of a movie & seems poised to become a profitable venture. In short, it’s a pairing that everyone wanted to watch (I surely hoped so) & they deliver what the trailer promised!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards...Ben




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