Dasavatharam - Finally!

Finally last week Dasa was released. How long a wait for Kamal fans worldover, and for Kamal himself. He could have easily done a comedy flick inbetween to keep his presence felt, but for his dedication and hardwork. And with about 2 years of expectations building up, Dasa had to be top notch to really satisfy his fans.

I hope to touch the story line only when needed, but instead think of what really striked or stinked. The problem with the movie (as is the case with most Kamal movies) is it is ahead of its time, and really takes some background work and discussion to understand the storyline fully. Many of the details just go unnoticed. It is definitely Kamal's problem, since a good Prof. is one who not only has knowledge but can get it across to students. The details should be obvious to the audience, who make a decision based on how much they can understand. I didnt understand much after seeing the movie, until I read some reviews and blogs. Probably that was the reason he used K.S. Ravikumar, but one gets the feeling Ravikumar wasn't given the freedom he needed. It was Kamal's movie all the way, with a poor and desperate effort to make it commercial with not-at-all-funny and already-heard-many-times comedy.

Kamal has given some of the best performances. Some characters which leave a lasting impression are Vincent(Dalit), CBI Naidu, Nambi, Fletcher and the Japanese. Ullah, Krishnaveni Patti, George Bush fail to make an impression. Govind was nothing new and Singh was ok. Ullah failed to impress because he looked like an alien, and his makeup - plastic. I read somewhere they used the same makeup man as the Mask. Ullah looks like a character out of the movie.
Krishnaveni Patti's makeup was good, not as striking as Avvai Shanmukhi, and looked a bit odd. She looked more like an Egypitian mummy in motion.

Fletcher was a perfect villan. He looked like an American, spoke like an American and his body language projected him a baddie in every frame. Also the BGM for him was well suited and increased the pace of the scenes. I liked this character the most, followed by Vincent. Naidu's accent resembled Junior Balayya, and provided some comic relief.

Flipsides:
1. Asin as Andal. Very Talkative and the dialogues were repetitive. She had just one dialogue to say - Give back my Perumal. Wish she was given better characterization.
2. It was lame that Asin in the climax suddenly fell in love with Govind. They could have avoided that relation since both of them had different priorities and definitely not Asin since she always differentiated Kamal as Naicker.
3. Govind, Andal and Fletcher jump at the wierdest places and still are in tact. It should have been more realistic.
4. Govind as a Scientist and Nambi as a Priest can fight. Interesting.
5. Govind transported to India in Cargo.
6. Tsunami graphics looked like a toy project out of a home computer.
7. Ullah, Singh, and George Bush were unneeded, except to make perfect 10.
8. George Bush cannot be called a role, it is just an imitation.
9. Jayalalitha footage could have been avoided, it looked cheap.
10. Many a times Govind forgot the vial needs cool temperature. It is surprising it survived the courier delivery and the chase in hot climate.
11. Messy comedy which was frustrating, especially between Kamal and Asin when hiding after the accident and in the hospital with Ullah. The brother-in-law comedy was pathetic, and felt never-ending.
12. Mediocre music, but does not influence the movie.

Great Visuals:
1. Hanu death graphics was very nice and realistic.
2. Fletcher's reaction to vial poison was great.
3. King torturing Nambi and Nambi's reactions when pushing back the idol to its place and when Napolean asked you know what happened to (someone), when he refused to reveal the whereabouts of Sri. Ramanujar, can only be done by Kamal.
4. Japanese guy doing stunts and also a split. Not sure if it was Kamal or dupe, but still great.
5. Vincent's body language was stiff and overconfident. Only Kamal can do it.
6. All in all a great effort by Kamal and team.

The movie is of the highest class in India and is the closest we get to Hollywood movies. It definitely has class and substance, but the screenplay was a bit jarry. Kamal had too many things to concentrate on, and hence has given more importance to his roles, than the flow of the movie. They could have cut down some chases, and explained more concepts.

I feel Kamal tried to infuse 2 concepts:
Events are related - Chaos Theory and
Everything happens for a Reason - Bhagavat Gita.

Kamal once again failed to explain the motive behind the movie - probably a Hollywood style approach, but it doesnt work for us. This will affect the reach of the movie. A simple movie like Avvai Shanmughi is more appreciable than Dasa for a simple reason that we can feel it better. I am not sure why Kamal still turns a deaf-ear to this law, even after so many failures.


the end.

The Strangers - Review

Being a fan of suspense/thriller movies it didn't take much deliberation to watch "The Strangers" in the first week of its release (that too in theaters :)). Also masked killers increased the curiosity about the movie since similar movies were thrilling and entertaining to watch (though quite predictable).

So my expectations were very simplistic when I went in, masked people trying to kill a couple, the movie having the same old suspense seen through the ages, yet would have something new to offer. Also since I read the preview and how only a couple is taunted, I didn't expect a dozen killings before the climax, so not seeing a dozen killings wasn't a disappointment for me from this movie, but more generally as a fan of thriller movies. I think SAW leads in innovative killings and will easily be my all time favorite for its goriness.

But this movie was far from being racy or catchy. Really far. It was dragging from the start till the end. The story was quite simple, 3 masked people (a man in formals and 2 ladies) marked an isolated house and attempted to scare, frustrate and then kill the the couple in it. The location and the atmosphere was well set and the lighting was perfect. But what missed was an equally good gameplay to support the field.

They scared the couple for about an hour, and then killed them in the morning in a very mild manner, by just tying them to a chair and stabbing with a knife. How un-gory. I think this should be the first movie a first-time horror movie watcher should be introduced, for its mildness. The director had a simple one-line story: 3 Masked people... kill a couple, but didnt know how to hold it on for the length of a movie. I think the movie would be better appreciated had it been crisp and shorter by an hour.

It clearly shows that the director was helplessly depending on... well nothing, to increase the length of the movie. I mean, how hard will it be to kill a woman with a broken leg who can barely crawl, when your motive is to kill her and you have an axe in your hand. Well, It takes a whole night! The murderers remove their masks before killing the couple but the director doesn't wish to show their faces to us. All I can infer from that scene is that, they are serial-killer wannabes, and just picked on this random couple since the couple don't recognize them, and will attempt many such murders. So it wont be a surprise if we see a Part -2, since the climax dialogues suggest something like that:
Christian Missionary Boy: Have you sinned?
Lady 1: Sometimes.
Lady 2: It will be a lot easier next time.

Lady 2 suggests that there will be many more of such killings.

Coming back to the movie, I would highly recommend to keep away from it. Not worth the $10 of your money unless you know the director/ believe in charity.

Scene I liked: End credits
Scene I disliked: Everything else.


the end.