Captain Miller

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?