Movie: Spyder
Direction: AR Murugadoss
Cast: Mahesh Babu, S J Surya, Bharath, Rakul Preet Singh, Priyadarshi Pullikonda, RJ Balaji
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Cinematographer: Santosh Sivan
Editor: Sreekar Prasad
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Rating: ∗∗∗
What is it about: It’s an Indian action spy thriller, where a special agent Shiva (Mahesh Babu) comes across a strange call for help while tapping the phone and how that call changes his and the people’s fate forms the crux of the story directed by AR Murugadoss.
Why it’s disappointing: It was disappointing to see there were few things which didn’t go well with Spyder. That was something which many would have felt, as this film was one of the most expected in both the languages. And with Mahesh Babu’s debut in Tamil Cinema it had an added expectation. This film had a humungous calibre which could have been in the league of the best of the best blockbusters. The concept was something which was not explored in both Tamil and Telugu.
Let me jolt down what went wrong in this film;
- Songs (Which were literally forced and were mere decoration)
- Romance (That was forced too, just to add an ingredient to commercial cinema).
- Sentiments were not rooted in most of the scenes.
- RJ Balaji was wasted in the film.
- Action at places was way over the top.
- Music was neat by Harris Jayaraj, but he lifted the background score and few places it had the same feel as Zimmer from Dark Knight Series.
The film had good writing but it was not evenly distributed and was focussed in segments making it quite disjointed. That gave the film a sloppy feel, and made the audience feel the screenplay was not up to the mark.
What to watch out for: Those were the technicalities which didn’t work well. But “Spyder” had amazing performers who took the film on their shoulders and made it worthwhile.
Mahesh Babu, who made his debut in Tamil cinema with this film, did a great job and was in sync with the language. And he dished out a charismatic performance.
Bharath, who was missing in action from a good role was seen in a good one in spite of its short screen time.
Rakul Preet, she was a sweetheart and did her part of what it required.
SJ Surya, he was the trump card and swept everyone off their feet with his devilish performance. It’s unfair for anyone to compare him with Hollywood nemesis, he set a class apart and made a place for himself. He excelled the best and was on top of his game. Another great performance by him.
Even though the VFX was little off at places, they managed to pull it off on the whole. The cinematography by Santhosh Sivan was delectable and was precisely edited by Sreekar Prasad.
Verdict: AR Murugadoss, tried a novel attempt in making an edge of the seat thriller, but was not tightly packed, which made this one stumble on to many things. And with Mahesh Babu making his debut, shouldn’t have taken little more care on screenplay, which went wandering at places. But it’s worth a watch for great performances.
