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?

My first theater watch of the year and it does use the big screen and sound impressively. But there are few movies that despite finding it to be very predictable, with so many moments that feel wasted, the emotions not hitting as they should and still come out satisfied with the end product like this. There are so many things going on in this movie, that it could have taken a lot of directions. Here, they chose to focus the most on the action and there are some great setpieces. Arun Matheshwaran knows how to make a frame look incredible and he does that brilliantly throughout the movie. There's so much that is told through framing and composition alone without actually saying anything. But unlike Rocky which followed an arthouse approach, this is a fully commercial approach without going overboard.

The problem with the movie is that there are so many characters and events happening that the emotions they are trying to convey are not fully realized on screen as they want to be. It felt like there might be a much longer cut that would properly justify and convey the emotions and if there is, that could be truly great.

Shiva Rajkumar was nice in his role. But his and Sundeep Kishan's roles really felt like they needed more screen time to give the full impact that was intended. Even Priyanka Mohan's character who had decent screen time lacked the proper writing for a lot of things to make sense.

In a way, it also felt like the familiarity of the way the story unfolds was also utilized to not explain a lot of things too much.

The dialogue about why the protagonist is joining the British army despite the freedom struggle happening was the high point in terms of writing in my opinion. That was used as a pivot point to start the journey. The action-packed nature of the movie also kind of lessened the impact of some of the more horrific stuff happening. But still, the action was terrific and even if the director falters when he tries to use the star elements of the actors, it doesn't go too much into the star worship level things that these types of films do.

GV Prakash Kumar's music is also a huge part of the movie as it really elevated a lot of the scenes and at times also made apparent why some aspects needed better writing.

It is unnecessary to say that Dhanush did a fantastic job but a lot of times the character became more than what is written because of his acting. He brought depth through performance that was not explored enough through writing and direction.

Ashraf Mallissery speaking Malayalam instead of Tamil when he's agitated is something I enjoyed in both this and Rocky. But the Malayalam audience in the theatre sure loved that dialogue.

Despite all of its problems, I enjoyed the movie a lot. The theatre experience was a blast and I really hope they have an extended cut for this.

The way they impressed me by trailer with lots of quick shot and badass music, the movie does the same. Dhanush performance is unmatchable and you can keep high expectation on him in acting department. Rest all supporting character was also great but problem lies because they don't have much screen play in movie. But whatever they got, they did it great and I got satisfied. Now comes the story and action and background score.

First half, most important scene are from starting 10-15 min because that will set your mind what movie is about. If you missed it then remaining movie is just an overrated action movie. Dhanush entry in fabulous and full badass action and dance and his anger expression and can't describe it normally. Then story goes back about what was happened with main character, what is story of different supporting character that have some weight in story and its required your times and some patients for it. It don't take much but yes one scene is there from which Dhanush character affects him, from there action pack starts. But I would say the way they represent to us make us speechless. Movie further first half mostly focus and on story but they still managed to give two big fight sequence which grab all your attention. Specially one which before the interval and dam they had planned so hard and executed in perfect set that theater audience was screaming like hell... Second half is mostly action with heavy score. One more backstory which also hold some weight in movie and three big action sequence. Hats off to director and team they planned it so well and executed in with no stinginess. Still you have full idea whatever is going on movie. But in last action, some team up action they wanted to present and personally I was like "WAIT! WHAT?" I didn't like that but other they did. Before ending movie, they set up small teaser about how next part is going to be. Personally I don't like much but still if they have some plan, I ready with some good expectation with it.

So the conclusion is Dhanush did not disappointed. I enjoyed and if I get chance again in theater, I will watched it again. This movie should give chance to watched in theater and reason are Dhanush and Badass Action.

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.

One of the best action movie ever made, just brought in mad max frames into it. A kinda of mixed with both real and imagination story. A movie well crafted and written. Arun has just nailed it, his writting is basically picturisation, which has worked in this movie perfectly. The guns and actions which is not overdosed and at an average phase. The hype mass element was suttle and accepting . My kinda action movie, it has a strong writting and an amazing screenplay. Arun matheshwaran style. Dhanush, oh man he always rocks with his performances, he is a man on a mission. An amazing performance. He brought the glipmses of veerappan. Songs were ok but bgm was rock hard from gv. All the others did their role to perfect. My fav one was shivaraj cameo which has worked so well. One of the best mass entertainer ever. Overall an amazingly crafted movie. Please do watch in theaters. Dhanushs best.