What a disappointment. At the halfway mark in this movie I was ready to script a 4/5 review about how this movie is gripping and entertaining. And then it shifted to the court.
The first half is pretty remarkable for Indian cinema in terms of how well it captures the panic and chaos of the flight. You are pretty much glued to the screen trying to see how this flight will survive, and the CG in these scenes are not terrible considering where India is in that department. Much like a plane, the movie takes a while to get going, with the backstory around the flight being unnecessarily dragged out. But it’s forgivable considering how well done the flight sequence is.
But then, once we pivot to the investigation in the movie’s back half, things start to go horribly wrong. Amitabh Bachchan is called upon for the role of the prosecution and is given just bones and scraps to work with. You can literally see him acting better than what is given to him. The scenes are dull and lifeless, and rather than a meaningful investigation with twists and turns, the second half instead acts as almost a retelling of what we already saw. Nothing of substance is added during the investigation, and it’s truly a pain to try and stay engaged with the movie at this point. Bachchan and Devgn are just firing one-liners back and forth at each other in an attempt to make the scenes seem smart and powerful, but it’s quite easy to see through the facade.
Another thing that this movie does that truly pisses me off is something that Bollywood has long been guilty of. In an effort to make characters seem smarter and certain dialogue more effective, lines will often be repeated again in English, as if to imply that this language is superior and sophisticated. This movie has essentially two scripts, one in Hindi and the other in English, and they are combined together like two halves of a deck during a shuffle. Just ridiculously stupid to make the main characters vomit English in totally unnecessary situations. Not only does it imply that English is the language of smarter people and Hindi is a dumbed-down alternative, but it also completely takes away from the effect of certain scenes. And it even acts against its intended effect at times, making things seem stupider. In an attempt to make her seem like some modern woman, Rakul Preet Singh’s character is named Tanya Alberquerque???? Get the fuck outta here thats the stupidest shit ever.
As far as acting goes, Devgn is on (no pun intended) autopilot, just napping his way to the end. Amitabh is a fine actor given a shit role, and you almost feel bad for him. Boman Irani is functional, and all other characters are forgettable. Special mention for RPS being actively horrible; feels like someone off-camera was showing her how to act scenes and she was trying to copy them in real time.
This movie had potential to be great, but unfortunately it was wasted in disastrous fashion. Devgn and Irani are great actors but decided to leave their skills at home, and many of the other cast had no skills to bring in the first place. Amitabh tries his hardest to keep this afloat, but a weak script and boring story weigh him down too much for him to make any real impact. Truly such a disappointment.
What a disappointment. At the halfway mark in this movie I was ready to script a 4/5 review about how this movie is gripping and entertaining. And then it shifted to the court.
The first half is pretty remarkable for Indian cinema in terms of how well it captures the panic and chaos of the flight. You are pretty much glued to the screen trying to see how this flight will survive, and the CG in these scenes are not terrible considering where India is in that department. Much like a plane, the movie takes a while to get going, with the backstory around the flight being unnecessarily dragged out. But it’s forgivable considering how well done the flight sequence is.
But then, once we pivot to the investigation in the movie’s back half, things start to go horribly wrong. Amitabh Bachchan is called upon for the role of the prosecution and is given just bones and scraps to work with. You can literally see him acting better than what is given to him. The scenes are dull and lifeless, and rather than a meaningful investigation with twists and turns, the second half instead acts as almost a retelling of what we already saw. Nothing of substance is added during the investigation, and it’s truly a pain to try and stay engaged with the movie at this point. Bachchan and Devgn are just firing one-liners back and forth at each other in an attempt to make the scenes seem smart and powerful, but it’s quite easy to see through the facade.
Another thing that this movie does that truly pisses me off is something that Bollywood has long been guilty of. In an effort to make characters seem smarter and certain dialogue more effective, lines will often be repeated again in English, as if to imply that this language is superior and sophisticated. This movie has essentially two scripts, one in Hindi and the other in English, and they are combined together like two halves of a deck during a shuffle. Just ridiculously stupid to make the main characters vomit English in totally unnecessary situations. Not only does it imply that English is the language of smarter people and Hindi is a dumbed-down alternative, but it also completely takes away from the effect of certain scenes. And it even acts against its intended effect at times, making things seem stupider. In an attempt to make her seem like some modern woman, Rakul Preet Singh’s character is named Tanya Alberquerque???? Get the fuck outta here thats the stupidest shit ever.
As far as acting goes, Devgn is on (no pun intended) autopilot, just napping his way to the end. Amitabh is a fine actor given a shit role, and you almost feel bad for him. Boman Irani is functional, and all other characters are forgettable. Special mention for RPS being actively horrible; feels like someone off-camera was showing her how to act scenes and she was trying to copy them in real time.
This movie had potential to be great, but unfortunately it was wasted in disastrous fashion. Devgn and Irani are great actors but decided to leave their skills at home, and many of the other cast had no skills to bring in the first place. Amitabh tries his hardest to keep this afloat, but a weak script and boring story weigh him down too much for him to make any real impact. Truly such a disappointment.
