Cast – John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Narendra Jha, Adil Hussain
Director – Abhinay Deo
Writer – Parveez Shaikh Jasmeet K. Reen
I would call it more of a John Abraham franchisee than a Force franchisee.
The central character of ACP Yashwardhan is out to catch an unknown antagonist who is baying for blood of undercover RAW agents and he is definitely pivotal in making the film worth it. Easily covering flaws here and there, the whistles and hoots John draws from the audience make us smile and feel reassured that we are definitely getting entertained .
Director Abhinay Deo (Delhi Belly and 24 fame) does a good job at making it a slick action thriller with a gripping narrative (at least till first half). His style is quite straight faced, no songs and good pace . He smartly uses John’s brawns and charisma.
The cinematography is great (Mohana Krishna and Imre Juhasz) and so are the stunts (Franz Spilhaus). Some of the chases were very good and gripping.
The second half however flounders and seems stretched and illogical at points, apart from being predictable. In fact writing seems the weakest point of this otherwise entertaining movie. Had Parveez Shaikh and Jasmeet Reen not stuck to the cliched storyline, we could have had a very good movie worth a score or two extra.
Performance wise, Tahir Raj Bhasin as the villain deserves the first mention. The actor gives a mean sheen to his character without an effort and at the same time manages to draw our empathy when deserved. He is as much a pleasure to watch as his first movie Mardaani, 2 years back despite of the fact that the writers gave a very similar tinge to his character (as that in Mardaani). Wonder what took so long for such a good actor to be seen again.
John does what he’s best at and I guess the audience can’t complain.
Sonakshi falls prey again to a badly written character (after Akira). After so much chest thumping about giving her a second hero’s role, all we see is the lamest ever RAW agent who seems nothing but silly. All that slick attire and stunts do not take away the fact that they showed a female agent who can be diligent and brave but can’t use brains. And intense looks are not only about knit brows and pursed lips looks all the time.
But overall I found the movie entertaining. The first half has a gripping narrative too. Good action, chases and John and Tahir make it a worth watch.
Score 6 on 10.