Kamal does it yet again - just when you think he has a gem of an idea and and the implementation is also going brilliantly - something happens which makes everything a bit disappointing.
I felt a sense of Deja Vu after finishing watching Dasavatharam (same feeling after Aalavandhan) - at intermission time, I was thinking this is absolutely awesome, what a screenplay, what acting, what dialogues... but everything had unraveled by the time the movie was done!!
The movie starts off quite promisingly showing a caste conflict in the 12th century and then quickly switching to a chase in 2004.. A cold hearted killer is chasing a scientist (both played by Kamal) - the reward being a bio-weapon... The chase moves to India where we encounter a lot of other characters played by Kamal - I wont put any spoilers here and say who the characters are and what happens with each.. but it is an interesting mix.. Kamal also shines in the extra "11/12th" roles of story/script in the first half with lot of heavy and interesting dialogues..
But post the interval, in a over-zealous attempt to define 10 full characters (which is one of my big grouses - this movie would have been great with maybe 6-7 of the characters alone, why add unnecessary flab?) the story goes haywire with no logical or coincidental (the movie relies a lot on this) links between scenes, just one special effects scene after another till a big finish with quite a few things left unexplained... not the kind of expectation the movie set up at the beginning..
Kamal is of course brilliant in all the roles, even in a couple where the make-up doesn't fit him properly at all.. As Fletcher, he is absolutely lip-smacking-enjoying-himself-brilliant-bad; as Balaram Naidu, he provides a number of laughs; as the script writer, some very sharp lines on the presence of God are delivered; and as Bush... does he have some fun there!! Asin is competent (though to call hers a double roles is stretching it).. Mallika Sherawat has a short eye-candy presence.. everybody else is basically a special appearance which they manage well enough..
Direction, Camera, Background score are all top-notch. Graphics are very good at most places (considering almost every scene needed graphics, only the really big effects look a bit tacky), songs are very average (only a couple stay hummable)... I just wonder how great this movie would have been if 3-4 avatars were cut and the running time added just a bit more for story development.. All said and done this is actually a pretty good movie but it should have been a bit better for the kind of expectations it set up!!
Score : 64 (Worth a watch, but oh it should have been special)
