Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu

While some may view this movie as a cliché gangster film, I found it to have a unique quality that set it apart. Perhaps it was due to the musical genius of AR Rahman, whose score played an incredibly important role in the film. Without his tremendous music, the movie would have been incomplete, unable to survive on the typical gangster storyline alone. The soundtrack added a depth and emotion that elevated the film to a higher level, making it truly memorable.

While the movie started slow and felt somewhat boring at first, it eventually picked up the pace in the second half. Although it didn't quite match up to Gautam Vasudev Menon's other epic films like "Kakka Kakka", it still had the usual magic that fans have come to expect from his work. While some viewers may find it to be a typical gangster movie, the film manages to serve justice to the genre, providing an engaging and entertaining experience. Despite its slow start, the movie ultimately delivers a solid performance, with a satisfying storyline and memorable characters.

This movie definitely isn't for everyone in my opinion. It's long, the pace is very slow, there are no hero centric moments, the love story isn't great, BUT if you love raw, authentic cinema this one is for you. VTK reminded me of films like Nayakan, Pudhupettai, The God Father, and Scarface. These were all stories that took their time to build it's characters, you see and feel every moment of their rise, and VTK does the same thing. GVM uses his 173 minutes of screen-time wisely by slowly building, layer by layer, this character Muthuveeran (played by Simbu) and you see his life, his journey, and then his eventual rise in the underworld. The first half of the film was my absolute favourite. The setup of characters and the environment and life they're in was so convincing, and it slowly built up in intensity to explode in what I'm now considering one of my favourite interval blocks ever. I can go on and on about the interval block but I just gotta say I absolutely LOVED the cinematography during that sequence. Moving on to the second half of the movie, this is where I felt it kinda let go of it's steam. We see this rise in pacing and intensity in the first half, with a stellar interval block, and then the movie decides to drop down again in both pacing and intensity, and decides to build that again. Which I'm seeing that some people liked, but I would have loved if they just kept building up from that point onwards. We're also presented with the main love track, which if GVM went his usual route, I feel like would have felt more necessary to the story. Not that it wasn't necessary, it played a key role in the climax, but I wasn't pulled in to their love story the way I was pulled in with AYM or Yennai Arindhaal. At points it also felt like it started to struggle to be a GVM film versus a Jeyamohan film. And then finally we reach the end of the movie, which to me was the biggest let down. The climax was great, but it was ruined with the rushed setup of a part II, ultimately resulting in a film that felt unfinished. But I do think once part ii comes out, and we get to look at this story as a whole, it'll feel a lot better. Just unfortunate that we can't see this as a standalone film. But I'm very excited to see Part II, and by the looks of it - it will happen. Finally, I just want to talk about Simbu. He KILLED it. There is not even the smallest trace of Simbu the star in this movie. He was a totally different person, he underplayed to his range, which was needed for this specific character. He's convincing as Muthuveeran, and you see him put in the smallest of details into playing this character which is believable from start to finish. He's definitly keeping his promise of only choosing scripts his fans would be proud of and as a fan, I am very proud of what he brought to the screen. Super stoked to see what he has in store for us in Pathu Thala, Corona Kumar, and eventually VTK part 2.

In conclusion, Although the screenplay, especially with all the ups and downs in the second half of the film along with the rushed ending, could have been much better, this movie is one to appreciate. I didn't touch on it because we already know it's perfect but AR Rahman's music and background score was phenomenal, cinematography was so so so good, Simbu's performance was top class, and GVM is moving on to this new style of filmmaking. This may be a very bold statement but there are films made for movie lovers, and then for people who appreciate the art of cinema. This one is 100% for the latter, and should at least be watched once by all.

A good film overall. Slow screenplay, rooted, and a wonderful performance from STR. ARR score worked very well in most places, There were a few instances where I wasn't quite sure it worked. The pace of the film was slow, but intriguing enough to keep me watching. The story while familiar, was decently written and executed well. Where things went terribly wrong was the ending - it felt like GVM had no idea where to go with it and shoved another movie into 6mins trying to make it a flashy ending in an otherwise rooted movie.

STRs performance: A+ ARR score: A+ Screenplay: B Story: C.

The ending - PATHETIC.

This new version GVM works out well with the Magic of STR and ARR First and foremost ARR is the main piller behind this gangster drama his background score elevating the scenes to another level second piller is the STR acting wow his manarisam in every stage of the character his impeccable other than ARR and STR writing stands out each and every character has a scope and it catches screen space perfectly after all these positives there are some negatives too some romantic portions felt like not needed(including a song) If you don't mind these small lags film will entertain you for sure go enjoy this ride in theatres.

I watched this movie with subtitles since unfortunately it was not dubbed in hindi on prime but I completed it like I complete other South movies with subtitles if it has the content to hold your interest otherwise if not I switch off after twenty minutes or so because this is the time limit you usually need to understand if the movie is worth watching. This is first time I am watching the lead actor and actress and no doubt they did good job. The heroine does not have much screen space in first half but she is likeable with her good looks and sweet dimple. The direction is good, the set is well made, well shot and a complete entertainer.