Illayathalapathy Vijay's highly expected film, Thalaiva has released well overseas, and in certain parts of India. It is having a few problems in Tamil Nadu, and I hope the problems are resolved soon. Let me start of by saying, that this is not the usual Vijay, mass fare. Instead it is a combination of all those and a lot more than you could expect.
I will not dwell on the story, as this is a review of the film, not a summary of it. So I will review this film, as my experience. Now let me tell you, that yes, I am a big Vijay fan, but when I review movies, I rate them in a neutral-fans perspective. So as I was saying, this is no Vijay fare. It is by far better than a lot of Vijay's films.
About the story, let me get this through everyone's heads, this film has been inspired by the Hindi movie 'Sarkar', Kamal sirs 'Nayagan' and the Hollywood blockbuster 'The Godfather'. But like I said it is has taken inspiration from the films, not a remake of them. The plot had flaws, especially the role of the 2nd love story. The screenplay dragged a little in the first half, and even more in the second. But the small twists and turns, mainly in the first interval and climax, allowed us to keep engaged during the whole film.
Director Vijay was not top notch, and lacked originality in his direction of some scenes, but has moulded the character of Viswas and Anna very well. Santhanam was brilliant as ever, and his one liners would leave you crying in laughter. Amala was decent in her role, even though she had not much scope near the 2nd half of the film. The villain, Abimanyu Singh and Ragini were disappointing especially, Singh, who is very much decorated as one, one of the best villains going around. Villains are starting to losing their grip, as shown by the character Danny in Singam 2, alongside Suriya. The music was a hit alongside Vijay's groovy dancing and class presence. But the BGM was of average standard and could have been a ton better. Or maybe I am just bias, due to Thuppaki's awesome BGM! Better luck next time GV Prakash, but I will admit, the 'Thalapathy Thalapathy'', 'Vanganna Vannakanga' and 'The Ecstasy of Dance' songs were well composed. Cinematography was top notch and brought that great perspective on the whole film, hats off to Nirav Shah's excellence.
But it is Vijay's incredible dancing and underplay of the Don that kept me going in this film. Vijay's acting was flawless all the way through. He has certainly matured his mass hero avatar to an acting one. And I love it. Vijay you have thumbs for me.
Conclusion: Pros - Vijay's effortless dancing and underplayed emotions of the Don. Santhanam's comedy, Sathyaraj as Anna, Cinematograohy by Nirav Shah and some interesting twists, and the climax
Cons: The length was way too long, Villain was out of place, loopholes in story and remake of a few scenes that we have already seen. BGM...
Verdict: 4/5 - All class entertainment, that could have been a lot better, if cut down...
