Captain Miller

It's one of those movies. The type of ones Dhanush has a tendency to take on. And you can't fault him for it... It has worked well for him in the past, and it continues to work well today, except maybe with a few hiccups here and there. Captain Miller is a little more on the blockbuster side of it, and it sees Dhanush playing the eponymous character; a guilt ridden soldier turned bandit/ revolutionary during the British occupation of India.

Themes of caste, patriotism, rights, exploitation and revolution are pretty heavy handed in this movie, and while that can allow the script to get a little carried away into comical territories at times, it still manages to keep things consistently loud, raw and pacy. It's not a ground-breaking exploration of these issues, but it's nonetheless entertaining. It's technically sound and visually impressive too. The actors all did their part in bringing this movie to life, and all of that contributes towards the success of this movie.

Also, shoutout to the random stranger seated behind me in the cinema hall, who was so invested in the film that he screamed "saavuda sakkiliyane" when Dhanush commits his first act of revenge against his British captain.

With every film of his, Arun Matheswaran comes across as a filmmaker who wants to stamp his name among the auteurs in the action genre. Captain Miller gives him the budget and a star in Dhanush to propel his period action-drama, with the writer-director learning from the criticism of his previous outings - the lack of a resonating emotional core. He course-corrects that to a large extent in this film, though there are stretches of drama where the proceedings are perfunctory, and their sole intention remain building to a major action block. The three act structure follows the realize-revolt-rampage pattern which our audiences are quite familiar with, and your satisfaction levels are bound to vary depending on how you take to it.

Dhanush excels in both the set-pieces & dramatic segments, and he's basically the one who holds the fort even when it shows signs of crumbling. His screen presence is used to scorching effect in those mass elevation moments, and he delivers the goods with aplomb. Aiding him are solid supporting acts from Priyanka Arul Mohan, Elango Kumaravel, and Nivedhithaa Sathish. The extended cameos from Shivanna and Sundeep are neatly incorporated, with the trio's action-packed crescendo arriving in the form of an Avengers Assemble! Kind of shot. GV Prakash Kumar has done fantastic work on the musical side of things, with both the songs and the score elevating the visuals.

Siddhartha Nuni is one of the most promising cinematographers of the times, and I've begun to take a liking for his fiery night shots. Whether the frames pan wide or focus on the protagonists' emoting faces, they're compelling - the only exception being the frantic, handheld shots. The cast mostly delivers, including the foreign actors, though I'm tired of seeing Alexx O'Nell in almost every period drama there is. We need to bring in more prominent names.. for instance, like how Karthik Subbaraj was able to add James Cosmo in Jagame Thandhiram. Dhanush is now fairly well-known internationally, isn't it?

I had very low expectations on this film because of its dull and dark theme.

Captain Miller, both first half and second half were brilliant, it had a lot of interesting characters throughout the whole film. The plot was very engaging as well. If you like Karnan, you would definitely like Captain Miller.

Had low expectations of the songs and bgm as well but GV Prakash gave his best.

Everyone acted well in the film.

Overall a very engaging film with great cast and mass soundtrack, highly recommend if you're a Dhanush fan.

Captain Miller is a 2024 Indian Tamil-language epic action adventure film directed by Arun Matheswaran.

Set on a backdrop of 40's Captain Miller tries to dig deep on the dillema of an ethnic community about whom to choose , the cruel and autocratic dynasty or british empire. Exploited by both « Captain Miller » the dacoit is born. Dhanush matches the intensity required as he uses his whole body to bring the anger , guilt . The screenplay and specially the action sequences are long and dull resulting the loose grip over the story.

One of my grievances with the south movies is they can't portray grey . The characters are straight evil or god . Very lazily written motives makes you question their intentions . Would have been a great watch had it not been so. Dhanush is the shining light of this average creation.

It is more like a 6.5. It's a good, raw, rustic period action adventure film. Ofcourse Dhanush's performance is great as usual and one of the main attractions of the film. Cinematography is nice. BGM is nice. Action is nice. Locations are nice. Technically the film stands strong. The portrayal of British is appropriately evil and surprisingly, the white actors do a great job. The performances are all solid. But the plot itself causes an emotional disconnect. Overall, it is a well made film. I don't mind the depiction of casteism in post-colonial India but I can't get behind this narrative of Indian "upper-caste" kings enslaving the tribals/"lower-caste" people and not allowing them to enter the temples built by them before British. Actually, before British, there were Mughals/Is.lamic invaders.

Easa basically compares the brutality of British colonialism to being enslaved by Hindu kings and questions who will actually get the independence from the British if they joined the independence movement. The word caste comes from Portuguese. British race scientist Herbert Hope Risley is notable for the formal application of the caste system to the entire Hindu population of British India in the 1901 census, of which he was in charge. As an exponent of scientific racism, he used anthropometric data to divide Indians into seven races. The villagers oppressed by "upper-caste" Indians win when they are able to enter the temple after Miller kills one nasty, sadist "upper-caste" Indian who couldn't bear the villagers stepping inside the temple. In the epilogue, we are led to believe that the "upper-caste" rulers along with the pie.ce of sh.it sycophant who managed to escape want to take revenge against Captain Miller for the king's death. I don't want to see more sadist brown sepoys, casteist rulers against tribals during peak colonial India. In movies like these, there should not be any Indian villains. The only villains should be the British like in RRR. At least this movie is much better than Shamshera. I loved Captain Miller kil.ling all the British men. Imagine a movie set during Na.zi Germany where some Je.ws are conspiring with the Na.zis and then we get a franchise about Je.ws vs Je.ws.