'Laathi' Movie Review
Cast: Vishal, Sunaina, Prabhu, Ramana, Manish Kanth and others
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cinematography: Bala Subramanyam – Balakrishna Thota
Producer: Ramana - Nanda
Writer - Director: Vinoth Kumar
Hero
Vishal earned a very good reputation in Tamil as well as Telugu with
his action films. He used to have a huge following but the routine films
in the past couple of years damaged his market a lot. He has arrived
with a movie named 'Laathi' and let us see if it changes Vishal's fate
at the box office or not.
Story:
Murali Krishna (Vishal)
is a sincere police constable. He is known for getting the truth out of
culprits with the help of his Laathi. He gets suspended due to his
over-eagerness to use the Laathi. He gets the job back through the
recommendation of DIG and decides to not use Laathi again. But DIG who
recommends Murali is in need of some help and Murali steps up. He
assigns the duty of beating Veera who behaves badly with his daughter.
Vishal hides his identity and beats Veera ruthlessly. Veera is so angry
and decides to find out who beat him. What happens next forms the rest
of the story.
Analysis:
Vishal's fit personality looks
good and it suits the action genre perfectly. People don't feel
uncomfortable when they see him beating 10 or 20 people on the screen.
We can accept a bit of dramatization in movies but Vishal beating
hundreds of people in an under-construction building is too much for
anyone. He gets surrounded from all corners but he still comes out which
explains a lot about the movie. Also, this fight sequence goes on for
45 minutes which is too much of an exaggeration. Despite an interesting
story and realistic scenes to an extent, the action part crosses all
boundaries and the heavy sentiment dose on top of it makes 'Laathi' an
unbearable watch.
Vishal makes a lot of action movies and the
storylines in movies like 'Abhimanyudu', 'Detective', 'Indrudu' and
others showcase his versatility. He picked up a different story for
'Laathi' as well. Normally, heroes play the roles of SI, CI, ACP, DCP
and others. But Vishal turned into a constable and has a name for being a
Laathi specialist. The hero introduction fight is picturized in a very
realistic manner and justified the title of the movie. The hero getting
suspended and another superior officer giving the recommendation to get
his job back and the hero using Laathi once again under forced
circumstances makes for an interesting watch.
Not revealing the
villain's identity but showcasing his ruthlessness is quite interesting.
Hero beating the villain and the latter targeting hero is very
intriguing to watch. The character establishment of the villain is very
gripping and the first half ends when the villain gets to know the
hero's identity. People become curious to know what happens next in the
movie. But the movie goes downhill from there. As soon as the identity
of the villain is revealed, the film loses its steam and the graph goes
down drastically.
The cat and mouse between the hero and villain
are not that interesting, and people become impatient. We expect
something but the director decides to throw the hero and the entire
villain gang in a building and turns the movie into a survival drama.
The lengthy fight scene where the hero fights will all of them and gets
out successfully becomes a test of the audience's patience. Though a few
twists surprise you, the action scenes make you get frustrated. The
heavy sentiment dose makes the movie even lengthier and the positive
impression after the first half goes out completely at the end. People
who enjoy logicless action scenes and heavy sentiment can give 'Laathi' a
try.
Performances:
Vishal is not new to playing
police roles. He built a career out of playing such roles. As a
constable, he delivers a convincing performance. He never got out of the
character and did a very good job. But he is unable to maintain the
same physique like before since he is 45 years old now. He excelled in
the action sequences.
Sunaina impresses in this movie. One feels
that her beauty and talent are not being used currently. Prabhu is
decent in his role while Ramana did not suit the villain's role. He
played hero and character roles previously which makes it tough for the
viewer to digest him in this role. While his looks are good, the
performance leaves a lot to be desired. Manish Kanth is okay.
Technicians:
Yuvan
Shankar Raja who is a master in giving background scores has delivered
for 'Laathi' once again. His music is intense and the songs are decent.
The cinematography is okay and the production values are quite good.
Writer
and director Vinoth's story is strong and the way he gave importance to
Laathi is interesting. He runs the movie on a gripping note till a
certain point and the screenplay was good as well. But the final act was
a big letdown. He attempted something out-of-the-box but it turned out
over the top. The sentiment scenes are over-dramatic as well.
Verdict: Laathi..Over 'Action'
Rating: 2.25/5
