Last weekend, I had a chance to catch up with two of the biggest Hollywood and Kollywood offerings this summer. On Friday, I saw Batman Begins on IMAX and on Saturday I drove all the way to North Bergen, NJ to see Anniyan. I shall try to objectively review and compare the two in this post. Bear in mind that my tastes have changed significantly over the last five years I have been in the US and might even indicate a bias towards all things American. I can assure the reader that while its a possibility, its not always the case, since I loved Chandramukhi and a large part of Mumbai Express too.
Batman Begins in one word to me is all that can be done right with a movie. Good star cast, good cinematography, great sets and most of all, excellent writing and directing. Chris Nolan of Memento fame, gets everything right with Batman Begins. Hours after watching the movie, I was still trying to remember any perceptible flaw in it and the effort has continued to be futile. Its that good. Frame after frame, the effort shows and the result is a very enjoyable adult comic book movie that blows past all expectations.
Anniyan, on the flip side is really all that can go wrong with a highly touted movie. A good message of civic responsibility is lost in the cacaphony of over the top acting, glaring holes in the script and a loud movie if ever there was one. Vikram not only acts, but overacts too. In the enthusiasm of trying to delineate multiple characters in the movie, he goes completely overboard. The movie is supposedly U rated with no censor cuts. I am really not sure why we need a censor board if this is the job they are doing. The movie is bloody, gory and violent. Some of the scenes were really unwatchable for the gore content. The only things that work for the movie are the songs and their picturisation and vivek's comedy that sparkles after a long time. Even the songs could have been done better, what with almost no dancing of mention by the lead stars.
Batman Begins was an adult look at a comic book hero. It works well with both adults and kids, although it skews more towards the former with a PG-13 rating. Anniyan is an adult look at a very contemporary issue that really supposedly skews towards everyone but it fails badly in that. I didnt have hopes for a classy movie from Shankar. What I hoped for, was a sensible movie (Mudhalvan is a case to point, if you exclude all things Manisha Koirala from it) and what I got instead was a rehash of all old Shankar movies with more gore and Matrix like stunts thrown in for a good measure.
I very highly recommend Batman Begins and ask that people approach Anniyan at their own risk.
13 comments:
Thanks for the reviews.
I am planning to watch Batman in IMAX. Anniyan...not sure.!
Jagan
I agree. The loopholes are too many to list. Best forgotten.
Narayanan
Batman is well worth a trip to the theater. That said, if you have a very young kid (<5 yrs) Ill advise that you think twice before taking him/her.
U came to North bergen.. Thats not far away from my place..
Btw all my roomies except yours truly were there for the saturday 4pm show
RP,
The Fun of watching a movie with 2000+ screaming fans and that too on the first day of release is something you would have experienced and as Usual IT HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA , anniyan was gr8 experience, especially with the crowd , it was fun to watch a movie like that after ages..standing in line for hrs sweating it out to get a ticket..finally got one..(black ticket!! vera enna!! )...these new multiplexes that have cropped up have made us even more lethargic...!!!
Will catch Batman Begins in Chennai this wknd ...
ioiio
I was in the 4 show too.
Hari
Part of the movie enjoyment process is definitely tied to the crowd and environments. True. But the crowd here wasnt too bad. There was whistling and screaming here too. Just that they died down significantly until a couple of scenes in the end when people liked a bit. Somehow, it still didnt work for me and most around me too.
Seems that every Indian blogger in US has watched Anniyan. hmm...
Shankar has his moments but I think he's a victim of his own hype. I haven't seen Anniyan but reading about it makes my skin crawl - like the Ambi and his kudumi. Haven't we had enough of that already?
Anyway, you'd asked a q on my comment box the answer is...don't want to clog up space here. If you wish, you could write to me. Thanks.
Am totally with hari.I completely agree there were massive loopholes in the movie like a very long first half,irritating 'Remo',stupid Sada etc. but still the movie was watchable mainly bcause of the atmosphere.The last 45 mts ppl were jumping all over the place in the theater.It was great fun.And we hav to resign to the fact that the movie is a massive hit all over South India.
Will try to see Batman.Memento is an out of the world movie.
Chakra
The expectations were sky high. No wonder everyone has seen it.
Ammani
The stereotyping is here too. Sadly.
Badri
We watched in a packed hall full of expatriate Indians who are even more passionate about their language and movies than people back home. That said, disappointment was written all over their faces.
OT: blogrolled you :-)
io.. maha mattam padam.. neenga konjam leniant..
saw anniyan only today. awesome movie. i find it difficult to understand all the negative reactions here.
shankar should copyright this screenplay structure and make more superhero fantasy movies like this.
vikatan review is the best I have read so far.
Thennavan
Thanks.
Ioiio
Why scare everyone from watching the movie? :)
Manoj
Somehow I expected that Anniyan wiould be your cup of tea:). That said, I still stand by my review of the movie. It was a good idea gone all wrong.
Post a Comment