Vikram
2022 ‧ Action/Thriller
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| Vikram (2022) | |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Released: | 2022 Jun 03 |
| Runtime: | 146 min |
| Genre: | Action, Thriller |
| Director: | Lokesh Kanagaraj |
| Actors: | Kamal Haasan, Suriya, Vijay Sethupathi |
| Language: | Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil |
| Country: | India |
| Awards: | N/A |
| Writer: | Lokesh Kanagaraj, Rathna Kumar |
| Plot: | |
Review: Lokesh Kanagaraj brings together the espionage-filled world of Kamal Haasan’s 1986 film Vikram and his own 2019 film Kaithi’s action-filled world of drug lords and cops in Vikram, a predictably plotted action film that is more interested in expanding its universe without really immersing us into it. It holds the mysteries of a spy film and provides the thrills of an action film to some extent, but it doesn’t feel wholly satisfactory and fails to leave us with the adrenaline rush that a film with such high ambitions promises.
The film does starts off intriguingly, when Karnan (Kamal Haasan), the father of a martyred cop Prapanchan (Kalidas Jayaram) is killed. We learn that there has been a series of such killings with a group of masked men taking responsibility for it 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.
The chief suspect is Sandhanam (Vijay Sethupathi), a fearsome drug lord with a large family, who is searching for a shipment of raw material that could make him a kingpin. Meanwhile, Amar is puzzled by the many versions of Karnan. Was he an alcoholic father grieving over the loss of his son, a womaniser or much more? More importantly, is he dead or alive?
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. There are nods to Kamal’s oeuvre, from Nayakan to Anbe Sivam, and spotting them offers some minor thrills. The actor, who is in action-star mode here, also gets a whistle-worthy moment, which leads to the interval. And Vijay Sethupathi seems to be taking off from where he left in Master, playing a ruthless villain.
The film does starts off intriguingly, when Karnan (Kamal Haasan), the father of a martyred cop Prapanchan (Kalidas Jayaram) is killed. We learn that there has been a series of such killings with a group of masked men taking responsibility for it 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.
The chief suspect is Sandhanam (Vijay Sethupathi), a fearsome drug lord with a large family, who is searching for a shipment of raw material that could make him a kingpin. Meanwhile, Amar is puzzled by the many versions of Karnan. Was he an alcoholic father grieving over the loss of his son, a womaniser or much more? More importantly, is he dead or alive?
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. There are nods to Kamal’s oeuvre, from Nayakan to Anbe Sivam, and spotting them offers some minor thrills. The actor, who is in action-star mode here, also gets a whistle-worthy moment, which leads to the interval. And Vijay Sethupathi seems to be taking off from where he left in Master, playing a ruthless villain.
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