Despite a decent core concept, ‘Vaathi’ fails to land due to its contradictory internal thought process. If writer/director Venky Atluri had thought through the lesson he wished to teach, he would have understood that the standard formulaic ‘masala’ treatment would not work.
The style of the film outweighs the substance by a large margin. Despite the director’s incessant references to Hemingway novels, Bruce Lee films and Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, the film is outclassed by them all. When almost all the departments of a film fail miserably, there is only one person to blame - the director. ‘Michael’ crumbles under its own lofty ambitions, a hollow shell of a film which dissipates upon any scrutiny.
Overall, the core concept of ‘Raangi’ could have made for an enthralling and morally conflicting drama. Instead, Saravanan botches the delivery and presents a sloppy shell of a great film.
‘Varisu’ is mostly successful in what it wants to be: a wave of nostalgia for Vijay fans and a safe ‘masala’ film. It can be enjoyed with the family, and Vijay has certainly played his cards well to ensure Pongal success.
Ajith Kumar teams up with H. Vinoth once again following their moderate success with ‘Nerkonda Parvai’ and moderate failure with ‘Valimai.’ Now, the duo return with their take on the heist film, ‘Thunivu.’
‘Laththi’ is a prime example of a decent concept ruined by terrible execution. There were many factors which were haphazardly completed, which needed more time, care and attention for the potentially adequate thriller ‘Laththi’ could have been.
Conventionally speaking, ‘Connect’ may be one of the most successful horror films in the Tamil film industry - which is a very low bar to step over.
Overall, ‘Naai Sekar Returns’ is an underwhelming effort and not the re-entry into Tamil cinema a comedic legend like Vadivelu deserves.
Baba is a strange yet singular film, which reveals a lot about its writer. It is an unmissable film for a Rajini fan. Unfortunately, the re-release has toned down the aspects which make the film unique.
Vijay Sethupathi films tend to be a 50:50 deal for me. He is either a part of some of the best Tamil films in recent history or run-of-the-mill, unoriginal template masala films. Unfortunately, DSP falls in the latter category.