Is it just me or are there too many message-movies coming out lately? Hero is an exaggerated attempt to kickstart a wave of superhero films, a genre that's yet to strike gold in Tamil cinema. But director P S Mithran seems to have forgotten that conventional mass leads in Tamil cinema have always been superheroes - they can do the unthinkable, they can beat up fifty thugs single-handedly, they look like average Joes but woo women who are always out of their league, and they can deliver preachy monologues on how everything in this world is a buzzkill.
Hero doesn't necessarily break new ground in that context. It asks relevant questions (like many other films before it) about the education system followed in India and how innovation is forcefully halted at the grassroots level. But the overdramatization of proceedings in the screenplay and the director's insistence on not doing away with clichéd elements such as a tepid romance track featuring Kalyani Priyadarshan that doesn't add anything to the film except extend its run-time (she's almost completely absent in the second half), a wronged supporting character straight out of Shankar movies (played by Action King Arjun Sarja who can still throw punches even while crippled), and a stretched first half that fails to fire on all cylinders.
When the film eventually gains pace in the second half, you're left to feed on a steady diet of technical mumbo-jumbo (such as ham radio walkie talkies, crawler cams, laser sensors, hacking into satellites, and lots more) that doesn't sit well with mainstream audiences. On the other hand, you have decently shot (but repetitive) action set-pieces that take place in the dark. Songs and BGM, a Yuvan effort, does not elevate the film much. The sermon on 'rough notebooks' at the end was both laughable and relatable at the same time. Hero is a film with more flaws than pluses and that makes it a tiresome 160-minute watch.
Again, a great concept doesn't necessarily translate into a great movie. Hero is a perfect example of it!
