Here we go again with another one of my biases. I apologize but at least I’m being honest in the hopes that some or many of you might agree with me. There are certain movie genres that I just don’t get tired of. You hear the talk of superhero movie fatigue, cookie cutter flicks, not another teen movie, the same ol’ rom-coms, apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic films, James Bond, Ethan Hunt, Fast and Furious, the list goes on. One such genre that I don’t get tired of is what I call the classic revenge movies. There are so many, and so many different flavors, this story has been told since the beginning of time. Here with this film, we get another one but a very different flavor. I’ve heard someone refer to this as a John Wick but in India. Although this film is John Wickesque in so many ways, it is also very different. Firstly, I can’t recall a film of this genre completely set in India, and that’s the beginning of what makes this one stand out. Getting an inside look of what everyday life can be like in India was eye opening. This setting along with the dramatic story and hero’s motivation make this particular flavor of revenge very gritty.
I’ve recently heard, and agree with, that the greatest power on Earth, the greatest power known to man, is love. This movie, in part, demonstrates such power in the form of the love of a mother to a son and the love a son has for his mother. That’s our motivation, our reason to fight back, our trauma. I say our because throughout this film, you can feel the rage along with the main character a little more than usual. This also helps separate this one a bit from the rest. Speaking of rage, the fight sequences are pretty darn good. Lots of shock kills, ways to kill a person that you might have never have seen before. So yeah, the action in this movie is really good. And when it comes to the visual, the cinematography, the shadows, the color, the sets, the lighting, the camera angles, etc. also really good. Even the music all the way down to the man sitting on the floor masterfully playing some drums was a real treat. Probably the only thing I had a problem with was understanding what they were saying at times. When the dialogue was not in English there were subtitles, or at least most of the time, I think. Most of the English was clear but there were moments that the speech was too fast or too low in volume that it was hard to understand, even if it was English at all. Thankfully, because of this particular genre, you can always get the gist of what’s going on without understanding every bit of dialogue.
I’m beginning to truly believe that Jordan Peele has that Midas touch. Knowing that his name is attached to this film as producer, my expectations were a little higher and I was not disappointed. But the real star of this show is Dev Patel in every sense. For starters, not only was his performance amazing, he IS the performance of this film. Then, he also co-wrote the story, kudos for that, and to top it all off, it’s his first time directing a major motion picture, and wow, what a job he did. He is obviously extremely talented and has quite the future in this business. It is a risk to come out as writer, director, and headliner, for the first time, in a movie of this genre, but I’ll tell you what, this one is not typical.