I was one of the millions of Rajini fans who was eagerly awaiting the release of the movie, and unfortunately like the millions, came out really disappointed.
I have a lot of issues with the movie. Lets start with not-so-bad parts : The story is very straight forward - you have an aging gangster who comes out of prison after 25 years and sees that things are still worse or have gotten even worse for his community, midst the backdrop of a never ending conflict between Tamils and local Malays. Seems like a good setting to setup some epic hair rising moments right ? Wrong.
The screenplay is at its absolute worst. You have a lot of details which could have been avoided - again, I am not sure if this is a case of bad editing, but let me give you a few examples. Right after Kabali gets out of prison, he inquires about the well being of every person in excruciating detail and most theater goers were like "Yaawn yawn". The whole Free life foundation school sequence was the what did it for me though - it laid the movie to rest. Overly unnecessary details regarding jokes, poems by side characters, long driven flashbacks which does not fully make you get behind Rajini's cause - and this is not the even worst part ! A lot of exposition scenes and unnecessary details like Free life clap is just sleep inducing. Editing falls flat never to recover. There is this 2 second sequence of the character Yogi just floating in a swimming pool which made the viewers roll their eyes and say "Uhmm, OK. What was that !?"
I completely disagree with most of the other reviewers' argument saying that it is a movie showcasing Rajini's acting and it is not supposed to be a commercial movie and what-not. What do you say about the action sequences in which Rajini kills just about everyone effortlessly ? No real motivation to chase down the villains too. Basically no one can touch Rajini and the one scene which he gets shot, he calls the villain 2 minutes later to a 'Neruppu da' bgm - which has been overly used and abused every time Rajini walks and does some action.
There are so many, I mean SO MANY movies which bring out the best in Rajini's acting but unfortunately this is not one of them. If you are going for a completely different kind of 'acting showcase' kind of movie, don't F**IN market the movie like a Baasha-2 or a Padayappa-2 kind of movie ! The trailer for this movie had everyone hyped up so much they were expecting a suave gangster Rajini movie with epic moments. (The last gangster movie was Baasha 20 years ago and so you understand now how sky high expectations were ! Esp after that trailer !)
The only saving grace of this movie is Santhosh's music and Radhika Apte's acting - that one reunion sequence where she breaks down in tears is top notch. Apart from that I did not really feel any hate towards Tony Lee ( there is a sequence which shows Tony lee's stock falling right next to a company named Stark :D), because I really felt his character was not given enough time to build up. OK, so he is the bad guy, but I still couldn't get behind Rajini's motivation to kill him and his gang, esp after Rajini's wife is still alive.
On an ending note, this movie tries real hard to be that one movie which balances that line between a commercial action flick and a good emotional story of a gangster, but falls flat on its face and is lost between both worlds. If you think you can spend a lot of cash and see how a Rajini movie can make you fall asleep, you should go for this movie. Otherwise, I would give this movie a pass.
I have a lot of issues with the movie. Lets start with not-so-bad parts : The story is very straight forward - you have an aging gangster who comes out of prison after 25 years and sees that things are still worse or have gotten even worse for his community, midst the backdrop of a never ending conflict between Tamils and local Malays. Seems like a good setting to setup some epic hair rising moments right ? Wrong.
The screenplay is at its absolute worst. You have a lot of details which could have been avoided - again, I am not sure if this is a case of bad editing, but let me give you a few examples. Right after Kabali gets out of prison, he inquires about the well being of every person in excruciating detail and most theater goers were like "Yaawn yawn". The whole Free life foundation school sequence was the what did it for me though - it laid the movie to rest. Overly unnecessary details regarding jokes, poems by side characters, long driven flashbacks which does not fully make you get behind Rajini's cause - and this is not the even worst part ! A lot of exposition scenes and unnecessary details like Free life clap is just sleep inducing. Editing falls flat never to recover. There is this 2 second sequence of the character Yogi just floating in a swimming pool which made the viewers roll their eyes and say "Uhmm, OK. What was that !?"
I completely disagree with most of the other reviewers' argument saying that it is a movie showcasing Rajini's acting and it is not supposed to be a commercial movie and what-not. What do you say about the action sequences in which Rajini kills just about everyone effortlessly ? No real motivation to chase down the villains too. Basically no one can touch Rajini and the one scene which he gets shot, he calls the villain 2 minutes later to a 'Neruppu da' bgm - which has been overly used and abused every time Rajini walks and does some action.
There are so many, I mean SO MANY movies which bring out the best in Rajini's acting but unfortunately this is not one of them. If you are going for a completely different kind of 'acting showcase' kind of movie, don't F**IN market the movie like a Baasha-2 or a Padayappa-2 kind of movie ! The trailer for this movie had everyone hyped up so much they were expecting a suave gangster Rajini movie with epic moments. (The last gangster movie was Baasha 20 years ago and so you understand now how sky high expectations were ! Esp after that trailer !)
The only saving grace of this movie is Santhosh's music and Radhika Apte's acting - that one reunion sequence where she breaks down in tears is top notch. Apart from that I did not really feel any hate towards Tony Lee ( there is a sequence which shows Tony lee's stock falling right next to a company named Stark :D), because I really felt his character was not given enough time to build up. OK, so he is the bad guy, but I still couldn't get behind Rajini's motivation to kill him and his gang, esp after Rajini's wife is still alive.
On an ending note, this movie tries real hard to be that one movie which balances that line between a commercial action flick and a good emotional story of a gangster, but falls flat on its face and is lost between both worlds. If you think you can spend a lot of cash and see how a Rajini movie can make you fall asleep, you should go for this movie. Otherwise, I would give this movie a pass.