Jailer : Movie Review

 Movie Review: Jailer

"Hukum.. Tiger ka Hukum"... The audience will definitely echo that Rajini smile on hearing this, but sadly it comes too late in the movie.

First things first, if you are an ardent Rajini fan, I may disappoint you... But seriously, it's a headache stuff. कई बार तो ऐसा लगा कि बेसिर पैर की चीजें दिखा रहे हैं।

It could have been a very good short 90 minutes movie... But beyond that it is just trying to find reasons to run for 3 hours.

I read several newspaper and online reviews going gung-ho about the movie. Attributes like "...fresh approach to the thriller genre...", "...exhilarating dark comedy...", "...stylish blockbuster...", "...both mass and a family entertainer...", these are what some of those reviews mentioned about the movie. I wonder at times whether many of those columns in respectable newspapers are paid reviews. Whether people who wrote such crazy IMDb reviews are so insane to find such artistic expressions for this movie... Or, more likely, it is simply that I have lost taste of identifying quality movie stuff.

Except those flashes of Rajini moments, there is nothing much to talk about. The story is pretty simple and nothing extraordinarily new. Writing, Editing, Direction, Cinematography,,,, I found them all pretty much below average. Songs are forgettable,, and lose most of their essence (even bordering on being comic) due to the Hindi dubbing.

Has Rajini outlived his utility ? Aaah, that seems far fetched. There are moments where his swag, his style, his dialogue delivery and his screen presence live up to expectations.... But they are few and far between. And the makers have tried hard to make it The Thalaiva Show that people expect. Cameos by superstars of various movie industries viz Shiva Rajkumar, Mohan Lal, Jackie Shroff, Tamannah Bhatia, all try their best to uplift the Rajini mania. 

But alas, it could not survive atleast my muster.

Rajini is now 72 yrs old. Probably we should just let him be in his present, and let his legacy live on.