Vikram Hitlist Review: Kamal Haasan stylish action sequences and Suriya cameo is major highlight of this action thriller
Vikram Hitlist Movie Rating: 3.5 Stars
Just watched Vikram Hitlist movie in Hindi on Disney Plus Hotstar. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi, Fahadh Faasil and Suriya
Director: Lokesh Kanagaraj
Release Date: 3rd June 2022 in Cinemas & Digital Premiere on 8th July on Disney Plus Hotstar
Story: The film serves as the second installment in the Lokesh Cinematic Universe (LCU). It begins where Lokesh’s Kaithi left off. Months after the biggest drug bust Tamil Nadu police ever pulled, two containers full of drugs went missing in Chennai and local gangs have to retrieve it at any cost before the crime lord and the leader of the drug mafia Rolex (Suriya) makes everybody pay.
On the other hand, Karnan alias Vikram’s (Kamal Haasan) son Prapanchan (Kalidas Jayaram) who works for the NCB has been murdered. Vikram swears revenge but he has to first understand who has killed him and why. Here, drug lord Santhanam (Vijay Sethupathi) is disturbed because an illegal consignment of drugs was intercepted by the police. That huge consignment would have catapulted him to an enviable position in the underworld. Therefore, he has to lay his hands on the consignment.
Meanwhile, a group of masked men are on a killing spree in Madras. Two high-ranking police officers are murdered by the masked men and calling it their war against the system. Police chief Jose (Chemban Vinod Jose) brings in a black ops team headed by Amar (Fahadh Faasil), who starts digging into Karnan’s life. Amar starts digging into Karnan/Vikram’s life and realises that he is actually thirsting for Santhanam’s blood. Why is Karnan after Santhanam and his gang?
Positives
1. Excellent Performances
2. Climax
3. Background Music
4. Story
5. Direction
Negatives
1. Length
2. Screenplay
3. Dialogues
Durgesh Tiwary’s View : When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie on digital premiere in Hindi because loved the trailer and also it is next movie of Kaithi which is part of Lokesh cinematic universe.
The plot continues from Kaithi (2019) and follows a black-ops squad led by Amar tracking down masked vigilantes, while he learns of a drug syndicate group called Vetti Vagaiyara, led by Sandhanam, who wants the missing drugs to be delivered to his cold-blooded boss Rolex.
Vikram works best in its first half, when we see Amar and his team trying to make sense of the murders and track down the killers. Even though these portions have very little of Kamal Haasan, we keep sensing his presence, both as the character and as the actor. But once the easy-to-guess mystery around Karnan is cleared, the narrative becomes rather straight-faced. A small bunch of cops should hold out against an army of gangsters. The film gets the Lokesh touch at the interval block. The audacity with which the director execute this long yet edge-of-the-seat sequence has to be seen to be believed. The two other contributors to this extravagant experience is Girish Gangadharan, whose camera pulls off extraordinary angles and composer Anirudh, who it looks like, cannot put a foot wrong. His music is marked by incredible swagger and refreshing experiments.
However, the film does falter at places and isn’t consistently engaging, but it manages to merge key characters from Lokesh’s earlier film Kaithi and sets the stage for what could be Tamil cinema’s biggest franchise in the making. What Lokesh manages to achieve with Vikram, which feels slightly long with nearly a three-hour running time, is to give a new generation of audiences a glimpse of Kamal Haasan’s versatility. At the end of the day, it is a vendetta drama. The pace is slow at places and gets boring. at some places but keep you engaged till the end. The action scenes are fast-paced but it must be added, there is an excess of violence. Dialogues are ordinary.
In the era of overflowing content, one need to balance inspiration with distinct ideas, which he does well. The film is also a template for filmmakers on how not to to do a generic fan service while working with their idols. The lip-smackingly good cameo of Suriya is the icing on the cake. Overall loved this movie for its stylish action and looking forward for new movies of this cinematic universe. My view on this movie Highly Recommended.
For more Bollywood and Cricket updates visit my page on Facebook Durgesh Tiwary’s View and website Cricket Movie Website