I the movie

Watched the movie I with some trepidation because it was on the second day and the mixed reviews primed my mind to temper my expectations. The movie was 189 minutes long as per the censor certificate and that made me instantly look at my watch; with a 10.45 pm start it was going to be a very long night.

Since there are many reviews online and I’m not a movie reviewer I will just stick to my views separated into the positives and negatives.

 Positives:

•  Vikram, enough said. He has taken a lot of pains for the movie and it is visible on screen. Even a casual viewer would not fail to be impressed but his commitment to his profession and the lengths he has gone to. You can just watch for this and become a fan
•  Amy Jackson, though hardly looks Indian slowly grows on you. She is both hot and cute with a bikini scene thrown in for extra measure. She fills the screen and at the end she holds her own despite all the others on screen. Her lip syncing appears much better than many other actresses these days who seem to be chewing gum while dialogues are spoken.
• Shankar the artist for conceiving and bringing wonderful masterpieces on screen
• P C Sreeram, the visuals are simply breath taking and should be savoured on the big screen
•  AR Rahman with one song that is simply magical, the reprise comes in the ending and holds on people from leaving the theatres          

Negatives:

• Shankar the director, who has tried to mask a wafer thin script with grandeur, lack of logic even for a Shankar movie
• The absence of a connect, when logic fails and the emotions seem shallow it is not easy to empathize or connect with Vikram despite his massive efforts
•  The length of the movie, there are unnecessary long sequences that seem to add no value to the movie be it the advertisements made to show the prowess of the model or the fight scenes that only make the hero seem like a superman but beyond a point tend to annoy the viewer
• The villains and their back stories even with the twist are plain silly
• The beauty and the beast song sequence somehow seemed to mar the song rather than add beauty as is usual with Shankar songs. Also the beast makeup could have just been ignored as the hunchback is scary or repulsive enough.

The final verdict – I is a collection of well-made long fight sequences, songs, held together by a weak script.  Can be watched once but wish they would trim it by 40 minutes at least. With some prudence Shankar could have probably halved his budget and still made a better movie. Dear Mr Producer and Financier is not money saved money earned??

Image courtesy Google