Movie Review: Agent Vinod
Let me begin this way. Saif Ali Khan's Agent Vinod isn't that bad as people are claiming it to be. Known for critically acclaimed thrillers like Ek Hasina Thi and Johnny Gaddaar, director Sriram Raghavan's 70's styled ode to the spy thriller genre is a good attempt at dishing out a slick potboiler, a globetrotting adventure undertaken by the titular character and a Pakistani ISI agent Iram Parveen Bilal (Kareena Kapoor) to avert a titanic nuclear disaster. But let's just say, the results are decidedly mixed.
Touted as a complete action entertainer, AV boasts of enough thrills (by Peter Hein) to keep you engrossed and enthralled - the opening sequence in Afghanistan, the poetically choreographed action piece at a motel in Latvia as the romantic track Raabta echoes in the backdrop, the scene where Ilaiyaraaja's Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu drowns out the duel between Vinod and a goon in an inter-weaved flashback cum real-time action all bear hallmarks of the director's brilliance. The retro-styled background score by Daniel George sets the mood aptly while C. K. Muraleedharan's lenswork breathtakingly captures the various cities and the tension alive.
What doesn't work in the movie's favour is its protracted length and the director's attempts to cram in too many things into the plot. With a wayfaring ride that covers almost eight to ten cities, the wafer-thing story is at times trying and perplexing as it meanders aimlessly trying to figure out an asinine puzzle that's filled with glaring plotholes and narrative liberties. The climactic scene where Iram blurts out the password to Vinod as she is in the throes of death is risibly ridiculous and can happen only in Indian cinema.
Logic is something that you shouldn't be expecting in a spy thriller (do you really care about such stuff from a James Bond/Mission Impossible movie?) and Agent Vinod is no different. Sriram Raghavan's latest film may not be as good as his prior outings, but it's still fun escapist fare - one that you can rightfully call a guilty pleasure!
Touted as a complete action entertainer, AV boasts of enough thrills (by Peter Hein) to keep you engrossed and enthralled - the opening sequence in Afghanistan, the poetically choreographed action piece at a motel in Latvia as the romantic track Raabta echoes in the backdrop, the scene where Ilaiyaraaja's Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu drowns out the duel between Vinod and a goon in an inter-weaved flashback cum real-time action all bear hallmarks of the director's brilliance. The retro-styled background score by Daniel George sets the mood aptly while C. K. Muraleedharan's lenswork breathtakingly captures the various cities and the tension alive.
What doesn't work in the movie's favour is its protracted length and the director's attempts to cram in too many things into the plot. With a wayfaring ride that covers almost eight to ten cities, the wafer-thing story is at times trying and perplexing as it meanders aimlessly trying to figure out an asinine puzzle that's filled with glaring plotholes and narrative liberties. The climactic scene where Iram blurts out the password to Vinod as she is in the throes of death is risibly ridiculous and can happen only in Indian cinema.
Logic is something that you shouldn't be expecting in a spy thriller (do you really care about such stuff from a James Bond/Mission Impossible movie?) and Agent Vinod is no different. Sriram Raghavan's latest film may not be as good as his prior outings, but it's still fun escapist fare - one that you can rightfully call a guilty pleasure!
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