Hero

Subject chosen is an apt one and is the need of the hour, but the presentation extends for about 160 minutes which tests your patience. Lengthy dialogues and mundane music.

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!

Superhero films haven't been successful in Tamil Cinema and we had only a few films that came in that genre so far. We can probably say that Tamil cinema doesn't need superhero films because our larger-than-life star's films are equal to that genre. Adding to this, PS. Mithran's Hero is the most recent superhero film in Tamil. Is Hero really a superhero film? Well, unfortunately, it isn't. Why? Well, the film has more social messages than superhero elements. Sivakarthikeyan plays the main lead Shakthi who is a fraudster at first sight and superhero later in the film. His character is not that heroic except in the climax speech. Performance-wise, Hero is a very decent film for Sivakarthikeyan because he has very little scope to perform as an actor. Honestly, the film's real hero is Arjun. Well, he has reprised his role from Shankar's Gentleman and played it effortlessly. His performance is worth watching and his role is definitely impactful in the narrative. On the other side, we have Abhay Deol playing the main antagonist with so much style and attitude. He is definitely a strength in this film. Speaking about Yuvan Shankar Raja, his album might be disappointing but his background score is a huge energy booster. PS. Mithran makes films similar to that of Shankar and A.R.Murugadoss. He is playing with the commercial format and adds a strong issue to make it more relevant to the audience. Fortunately, it works in both of his works, Irumbu Thirai and Hero. Well, Hero has strong content but takes too much time to get into it. We have an unnecessary love track and not so hilarious comedy track that doesn't fit into the film's first half. It's only after the interval that we get the actual conflict of the film. Hero feels less engaging than Irumbu Thirai because it focuses more on establishing the character's backstories than the actual conflict. Sivakarthikeyan has a backstory to justify his acts and Arjun has a backstory to introduce who he is actually which feels like taking too much of the film's duration but Arjun's backstory is worthy. The superhero factor comes only in the last 30 minutes which is a major letdown. Moreover, PS. Mithran has focused more on the social issue than the superhero factor which could have been equally balanced. Overall, Hero is not a superhero film but a social issue-based film.

Arjun was probably the best thing that happened to this movie.

If you are a Marvel fan, this may remind you of the rise of Iron Man or technically any other superhero movie. The only thing is that the execution of the story could have been better/more believable/more engaging. It felt as if even the actors were not convinced of the story. But Arjun ad Abhay Deol are excellent actors, no doubt. If anything, watch for Arjun and Abhay. Absolutely stole the spotlight.

Though the story was going to be a fight against corruption, this movie had some proper content in the form of scientific inventions instead of just preaching messages throughout. Though there were places which presented the cliché revolutionary feel, the way the director had used inventions and discoveries to combat the existing Indian education system was appreciable as a good level of research was put into it. I wouldn't recommend it a must watch movie, but is definitely a more than decent movie which you can give a try.