'Eagle' Movie Review
Cast: Ravi Teja, Anupama Parameswaran, Kavya Thapar, Navdeep, Srinivas Avasarala, Vinay Rai, Madhoo, Ajay Ghosh, Srinivas Reddy and others.
Music: Davzand
Cinematography: Karthik Gattamneni, Kamil Plocki & Karm Chawla
Producer: TG Viswa Prasad
Writer - Editor - Director: Karthik Gattamneni
After two back-to-back failures like 'Ravanasura' and 'Tiger Nageswar Rao', Mass Maharaj Ravi Teja is arriving with an action thriller titled 'Eagle'. The trailer and other promotional content generated a very good buzz on the movie. Written and directed by Karthik Gattamneni, there are decent expectations on this film and Ravi Teja's new avatar created a curiosity among many. Let us dive into the review to find out how the movie is.
Story:
Sahadev (Ravi Teja) runs a cotton factory in a tribal area of the Talakona region in the Chittoor district. He lives in his farmhouse nearby. After knowing that there is bauxite in that tribal area, a bigshot businessman ties hands with that area's MLA and tries to occupy that land. He wants to drive Sahadev and tribal people away from that area and grab everything. But Sahadev is not an ordinary person, he has an unknown past. What is that story? How did he send back the people who tried to attack them? What is his motive to live in that area? All these questions will be answered in the movie.
Analysis:
Unveiling the hero's story through different characters, explaining his heroics through heavy dialogues and elevation his character to another level in this process is a pattern that is followed in many films. Prasanth Neel excessively uses this style. In fact, he overused and complicated proceedings too much in 'KGF' and 'Salaar'. But the audience loved those movies while is promoting other filmmakers to follow the same path. These kinds of elevations don't work out every time. The buildup and over-the-top reactions of other characters when talking about the hero only works out when there are strong scenes to back those elevations. If not, the proceedings lose balance and the audiences feel disappointed as the elevations don't match with the intensity or magnitude of that hyped scene. A lot of films faced this situation and 'Eagle' too belongs to the same category. Right from the start, you hear words like 'Vidhwamsam', 'Utpaatam', 'Vispotanam', 'Pralayam' and others from every character that comes onto the screen. Every role gives huge elevations to the hero and the hero's story too is told in chapters like 'Gatam', 'Garudapuranam', 'Mrugasira - Madharatri', 'Pattapagalu – Padhataina Daadi', 'Kanche-Kapari'. They give you a feeling that they are about to show something huge and epic. But all you get are regular elevations and normal scenes. If you watch it with an open mind, 'Eagle' is a decent movie. But the unnecessary hype in the narration becomes an obstacle for this movie.
Karthik made a movie earlier named 'Surya Vs Surya'. It is a unique concept that is quite intriguing but he failed to narrate it in a gripping manner and end it in a proper way. This time, he selected a decent story but tried to create magic with the screenplay. Crime is the hero's job but he falls in love with a girl hiding his identity. He ends up losing the love of his life due to his profession and the hero decides to stop all the crimes and prevent these attacks from happening again. This storyline is used in many movies. But the director used a different background and gave a new color to 'Eagle'. We don't get the vibe of watching a regular commercial movie. He kept the hero's character as a mystery and created curiosity among the viewers. It worked out well but the buildups given by every character to the hero cross the line after a point. Without going into the story, everyone keeps elevating him for no reason and it eats away a lot of time. But the hero appears in a normal manner after getting into action. It takes a lot of time for him to get into that mode. The proceedings surrounding the cotton factory and farmhouse are not that interesting. On the other hand, the 'Eagle' thread tried with RAW operations too lack any force.
Until the destruction episode that shows the hero's ferocity arrives, 'Eagle' doesn't move forward. The first half bores you to a large extent. With the action episodes taking the front seat, 'Eagle' picks up pace. The much-hyped 'Vispotanam' episode gives the required high on the audience. It was picturized in a grand and stylish manner. The flashback episode set in foreign is just okay. Gun playing a key part in the hero-heroine love story is a different touch but their story lacked the required emotion. With all the twists unfolding one after the other, the last 30 minutes turn out to be engaging. Revealing the hero's intentions leads to the climax. The ending is decent. Also, the directors need to understand that not every movie requires a second part. When the story gets to an organic end, there is no need to forcefully drop a hint regarding an extension to the story. On the whole, 'Eagle' relies heavily on style and action sequences. They impress you to an extent but the slow narration and over-hyping from other characters play the spoilsport.
Performances:
Ravi Teja looked good as Sahadev. The thick beard and long hair suited him. The new look gives a different touch to his character. He dialed down his energy while uttering dialogues in order to bring more maturity and a subtle tone. He did not have a lot of dialogues in the movie but managed to create an impact. Overall, he gave a very good performance. As 'Eagle', he looked ordinary and did not have anything different to do. Anupama Parameswaran sleepwalked through her role. She was fine. Kavya Thapar looked beautiful onscreen. She got limited screen space but made a mark with her cuteness. Vinay Rai played a different role in 'Eagle' compared to the stylish villain roles he has been doing so far. He is decent and Navdeep as the hero's right-hand man impresses you. Srinivas Reddy and Ajay Ghosh entertain you to a certain extent. Madhubala is a misfit as a RAW chief. She lacked the required maturity and stature while Avasarala Srinivas did a decent job. The rest of the actors are fine.
Technology:
'Eagle' has a lot of technical quality. Music director Davzand gave some unique background scores. They worked out to a large extent. They are not your usual over-the-top BGMs that dominate the scene. Some may like it while others may not. The songs failed to make an impact. Visuals by Karthik Gattamneni, Karm Chawla and Kamil Plocki are brilliant. They stand out throughout the movie whether it is an action episode or a love scene. The camera work is wonderful during the action episodes. The production values are top-notch. The cost is evident on the screen. The makers did not compromise on the cast, locations and sets. Manibabu Karanam's dialogues did not gel well with the movie. Every dialogue seems to be an elevation and there is too much depth in them. At places, you feel like the dialogues are unnecessarily preachy and complicated. He co-wrote the screenplay too and his talent is evident in the film. Writer-editor-director Karthik Gattamneni is heavily influenced by Hollywood movies. He tried something new with the screenplay. He raised questions constantly about the hero and different characters came up with answers to it. But the narration is not that engaging. The first half is quite slow and boring. However, Karthik's story and taking/picturisation impress you big time.
Verdict: Eagle - Action Full… Narration Dull!
Rating: 2.5/5