Having created one of the biggest hits of the latter half of Ajithkumar’s career, all eyes were on Venkat Prabhu when his film with Vijay was announced. Expectations were high, further heightened with the title reveal: ‘The Greatest of All Time’. Despite a rocky filmography, Prabhu is more than capable of creating a solid entertainer. The Simbu starring sci-fi thriller ‘Maanaadu’ was a recent success for Prabhu, and perhaps thus far the highlight of his directorial ventures. Overall, however, his output has been unpredictable in quality since the start. 

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the majority of the plot for ‘GOAT’. The film follows MS Gandhi, a man living a double life as a loving, hardworking but mischievous husband as well as a James Bond-esque Special Anti-Terrorism Squad officer. Complications arise when these two lives cross. Despite the film’s globe-trotting and many twists in its tale, the core narrative thread follows a pretty standard masala formula. 

The film has the general feel of a wind-down of Vijay’s film career. As can be expected in a Venkat Prabhu feature, it is a clunky mix of intertextual references in celebration of both Vijay and the Tamil film industry as a whole. The cast is star-studded. Prashanth appears as Sunil Thiagarajan, Prabhu Deva plays Kalyan Sundaram (both strange references to the actors’ nepotistic ties, as is the case with a lot of the film’s cast and crew) and Sneha plays the wife of Gandhi. Most of the characters lack the depth and character development to truly create a connection with any of them. One of the film’s biggest blunders may have been their casting for the main antagonist, Rajiv Menon, played by Mohan. The actor lacks the screen presence, charisma or command to portray a cartoonish villain in a masala film. 

The technical aspects of the film are lacking, which the film does not attempt to hide. Deepfake, CGI backdrops, AI music generation are all used haphazardly, regardless of the quality of the final product. I am often forgiving of CGI in films as it is best used as a tool to finetune storytelling, however, it is used with reckless abandon here and detracts greatly from immersing the audience. There is also a strange epilogue, a reference to the epilogue to the Ranbir Kapoor starrer ‘Animal,’ which completely misses its landing and leaves the film on an awkward note.

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s accompanying soundtrack is underwhelming too. The first single and opening song of the film ‘Whistle Podu’ remains one of Yuvan’s weakest offerings in his entire career. ‘Spark’ has grown on me since its initial release, however, due to its earworm chorus. There is no great ‘Mankatha’ theme tune which sticks with you once the film is finished. 

The film is not without its strengths. The costume department provides Vijay with some classy outfits. Vijay’s second role in portraying Gandhi’s son Jeevan gives this film some life. What is visible in the action choreography (a lot of it is indecipherable due to the heavy reliance of CGI) is decent too. There are moments which elicit a smile. A quick montage of Gandhi’s struggles in juggling his espionage work with family life early in the film felt new and funny. 

But there are too many factors working against this film for it to be considered a success. The film is fun at times, reaching moments and scenes which could have worked better if they had felt deserved. This is perhaps Vijay’s second-best outing in the last decade, with ‘Master’ taking the top spot. Despite its artificial flash and extravagance, this may be the start of a subpar farewell to one of the biggest Tamil film stars of the 21st century. Fans of the actor will most likely enjoy this film, however. 

Krishna’s rating: 3 stars

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Official trailer for the film below.