Beast (2022) :
Movie Review -
Nelson's last film, "Doctor", was truly a new attempt in the action-comedy genre for the Tamil audience. Yes, it had those avoidable spoofs that were planted to please the hardcore masses, which disturbed the seriousness of the storyline, but otherwise, it made for a good watchable flick. With Beast, he goes completely massy with superstar Vijay, only to spoil the basic, simple rules of filmmaking. On the other hand, Vijay is also coming from an average flick, "Master", but it was saved by the director Lokesh Kanagaraj. Beast gives him a full-scale, massy avatar but not style and logic. If you remember watching Bruce Willis starrer "Die Hard" (1988), or the recent Hindi adaptation of it, "Sanak" (2021), then I don't think the story of Beast has anything new for you, except the action and hardcore patriotism. Just imagine those two films with regional comedy flavours, and the closest possible outcome is Beast.
The film is about a talented and patriotic RAW agent, Veer Raghavan, who quits his job after one sad and unwanted incident. Even after quitting RAW, the trauma stays with him as he tries to cure it with the help of a psychiatrist. With the help of his girlfriend, Preeti (Pooja Hegde), he gets a job in a company and visits a shopping mall, which eventually gets hijacked by terrorists. Veer decides to save the hostages for the sake of mental peace, which has got something to do with that old trauma. What challenges he has to face during the battle and how he handles terrorists and politicians to complete the mission is all that forms the rest of the narrative.
The screenplay here is very problematic. You have no clue about the number of terrorists in there, as Veer finishes them off easily and yet has many more left. Veer's strategies are sometimes successful, while others fail, but he has counter-strategies for every terrorist move. There are a lot of surprises in store, and some are really interesting, but I just can't spoil them here. What brings Beast down is the poor writing and illogical screenplay. The film is hampered by unnecessary comedy because it ruins the importance of a damn serious event like the hijack. You can't have any explanation for hostages having fun and cracking jokes during the hijack. The romance and jealousy parts were too cheesy to accept. Come on, you are the hostages under the attack of dangerous terrorists, so please show some little amount of fear.
Veer Raghavan is a tailor-made role for Thalapathy Vijay. He has his swag, that style that makes his fans go crazy, and a larger-than-life stature in the film. Pooja Hegde has good screen space, thankfully, and she plays a pretty enjoyable role here. There is very little scope for Pooja and Vijay's chemistry because the entire theme happens in a survival mode, but they have a start and a fantastic song together. Yogi Babu does what he does best: comedy! Beast gives every supporting cast member a fair amount of screen time. Selvaraghavan, Redin Kingsley, Bjorn Surrao, Aparna Das, Shaji Chen, Shine Tom Chacko and Ankur Ajit Vikal all appear at intervals throughout the film.
Anirudh has delivered another foot-tapping chartbuster with 'Arabic Kuthu'. The full video song is nothing short of a musical and dance treat for Vijay and Pooja Hegde fans. What dance moves does Vijay have, man. Killer! And how gorgeous Pooja Hedge looks in that ethenic look. Just wait for the full video song to be released, and you will go Gaga over it. But we have that energetic background score here to make you groove to it. The dialogues could've been better considering the swag of Vijay he had in Thupakki, Mersal, Sarkar and Master. I mean, this man is the darling of the masses, so he deserves better dialogues that can create mass hysteria in auditoriums. However, the action is pleasant. No matter how sordid the pre-action conditions are, the stylish action sequences are a sight for sore eyes.
After the poor writing, if any person is to be blamed, then it has to be director Nelson Dilipkumar. That awkward vision to carry forward a mediocre storyline is no less than a big mistake. Nelson makes mistakes, repetitively, and that's what hurts the film the most. Those errors in illogical situations can be forgiven, but not the logical confirmation of the director. Why are those comedy scenes needed when you are supposed to make an action thriller, that too with a concept of hijack? It was fine with Doctor because the protagonist was fighting the battle alone, rather than with a crowd of hundreds of people surrounding him. Nelson could have removed the cringe plotting here and Beast could have easily made it a watchable affair. Sadly, that doesn't happen, and the film succumbs to its outdated storyline and lukewarm presentation. Overall, the beauty of Pooja Hegd and the Beast mode of Vijay may please some of their fans, but not others. It's torture for them.
RATING - 3/10*
