KATHTHI - Ilayathalapathy VIJAY | ARM | SAMANTHA|ANIRUDH

[Shanker]

So here's my review. Watched it in REX Cinemas here in Singapore. Full house at 12pm on a working day, a day after Deepavali which was housefull for all shows too. On to the movie, the biggest surprise for me was Satish. His dialogue delivery near the end was excellent. Neil Nithin Mukesh was an awesome villian, ruthless at times but also comedic in a few rare moments. Nothing much to say about Samantha. She's just there for the songs (like Kajal in Thuppakki). The rest of the supporting cast all did their roles brilliantly; notably the old men.

Action was mostly very well done, barring some of the mill 'through the window' scenes.. Music was also excellent, especially that BGM. The BGM for Jeeva's scenes was also spledind. Cinematography was top notch, colours were superbly used for the maximum effect. ARM's direction, though laggy at times was mostly efficient. Dialogues deserve a special mention.

And now to the star of the film, Vijay and what a star he was as both Kathiresan and Jeevanadham. The Kathi character reminded me of Jagdish except he's on crack or something. His action scenes, dialogue delivery (especially in that press meet scene), emotions, dance steps were all flawless. That scene right before the intermission and right after the fight, you can actually feel his anger. And as a direct contrast to that character, he wonderfully underplayed Jeevanadham. That character did not have much dialogues but he did have one of the best lines in the film (What is communism?). This character was all about the emotions and Vijay as usual excelled. That flashback scene where he discovers the water, realizes they've been cheated and the climax scene were all acted brilliantly. Though I felt he could have done more in the climax fight, I mean his hands were untied...

On to the negatives, draggy first 30-40 mins, songs placement and some hastily edited scenes like whatever happened to the 2 assassins that came to kill Kathiresan?

All in all, a showcase of Vijay's wide range of talents, amazing story with a social message and a clean entertainer. Can be caught more than once even though it's lengthy. It's $17 here per ticket (upwards of Rs800) but that pre-interval fight scene alone is worth the price of admission. Brother and mum enjoyed Thuppakki more but I honestly think the 2 movies can't be compared. Different genres.