Nelson subdues into the Vijay platform or Vijay himself wrote the script; either way the result is too far from Nelson’s brand of engagement. We have Veera Raghavan (Vijay), who happens to be one of the hostages of a mall hijack. Being a ruthless ex RAW agent, we now Veera would stop at nothing to rescue everyone.
Nelson has taken up the Die Hard-in premise and reimagined it with a narrative that solely depends on the star charisma of Vijay. Vijay, as usual, carries the film on his shoulders and puts up an energetic show. But what Nelson did to others felt like an afterthought out of commercial requirement. Pooja Hegde’s name comes big on-screen in titles, but little do we see or root for her character. While VTV Ganesh gets all the jokes, the typical comedians Reddin Kingsley, Yogi Babu, etc try their best to make you laugh. Selvaraghavan gets a Vivek Oberoi role but does it well.
Manoj Paramasamha is excellent with the high-speed shots and the buildup shots. But the VFX and the limited set design wear out anything novel in the narrative. Anirudh is yet again the saviour. Right from the title card, you vet to hear good music. Halamathi Habbibo and Jolly O Jimkkana are chartbusters but the latter appears at the pinacle of your patience. You can’t help but sit through. Nevertheless, it is well choreographed.
The screenplay is so predictable and repetitive. With Vijay being the hero, unpredictability is certainly off the table. But the absence of anything interesting is an unmissable demerit. The film isn’t boring. Yes, it won’t bore you. But does not boring you make a film worth of a watch? Your call.
Overall, Beast is nothing like Nelson’s previous works. Beast is almost everything what Vijay used to do years back. Watch it for a charismatic Vijay and a fantastic soundtrack by Anirudh.
Review By Gautham Ravichandran
-
6
