2.0 Movie Review

2.0: A Ho-Hum Film Packaged With Striking Visuals!

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Reviewer’s Thumb Mark

"I'm not a big fan of CGI. I'm not a fan at all unless they use it in a way that doesn't call attention to itself " -- Billy Cambell

Shankar's latest offer to his audience has raised the bar of CGI and visual effects many notches up for Indian cinema. It is quite evident from the start to end of the film 2.0 that Shankar had a single agenda to wow the audience with technology and to make it visually overpowering. The visuals were brilliant and exploding right in front of your faces, and you just had to ensure that you cleared out of the way.

You can do anything with CGI, and Shankar like any other enthusiastic kid who has learnt how to use a new gizmo goes blazing and blasting the world with his new antics on screen. And in the melee, he loses that sort of human dimension, and he gets all the stuff breaking the rules of physics. 

Image Courtesy: facebook.com/Enthiran2TheMovie

Eight years back 'Enthiran' had a heart, fell in love, was possessive, got heartbroken and a story to tell but his 2.0 version is plastic, too comical and funny. There are millions of Chitti lookalikes spread all over on the screen forming different shapes and forms and keeps on and on till you get tired of its forms and formlessness yet its creator Shankar doesn't budge to stop.

Steven Spielberg once said - "People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle, or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning." To be frank, I am a bit frightened; if this is what 2.0 is then what will be 3.0 in store for us? Shankar please, you have many accolades to beat your chest and undoubtedly you have offered good movies to us but then remember we love you for your stories and ability to take risk to experiment but then we have a humble request too to you, please do take care of the storyline and ensure that we take some feelings back home.

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2.0 is made on a colossal budget with Rajni 'The Super Star' and the 'Khilladiyon Ka Khilladi' Akshay Kumar. The fee that Akshay took, the time he spent for his makeup for his demonic look as Pakshi Rajan, Rajni's humility and his halo around him are all there on the internet with juicy inputs and pictures. Having said this, what we need to know is Akshay as Pakshi Rajan is compelling and Rajni as Dr Vassegran and his innumerable robots are brilliant but fail to hold interest for long in their performance. The character of Pakshiraja is not built properly, the bird-loving Professor is a lone fighter and is pathetic in his struggle against the system. Amy Jackson is beautiful and is there as a robot for serving her master. Funnily the gender bias of a patriarchal society is depicted by feeding in her serials, etc to show that women are women and men will never change the way they think of woman even if she adorns the same role what men play. The main motto of the film 'save birds from radiation' has raised a pertinent question but not on strong grounds to vouch for the claim and therefore fail to call for action at least in the minds of the viewers.

Image Courtesy: indianexpress.com

In short, if you are a fan of Rajni and like video games go ahead and watch. And if anyone of you wants to cheer for Akki for his southern movie debut as the menacing Pakshi Rajan please go ahead. If you do not fall under the above mentioned two categories please stay at home and don't spend your hard earned money on these 'Thugs' of Hindustan who mince money by their advertisement and promotional campaigns and offer peanuts in terms of real takeaways as entertainment. No offence to any of the huge fan following who love their superheroes.

PEN Movie Review Rating: 2.5/5

Cast: Rajnikant (Vaseegaran, Chitti, 2.0 and 3.0 version), Akshay Kumar (Pakshi Rajan), Amy Jackson (Nila), Sudhanshu Pandey (Dhinendra, Adil Hussain ( Home Minister), K Ganesh (Jeyanth Kumar), Anant Mahadevan (Head of Meeting), Kalabhavan Shajohn (Minister of Telecommunications)

Genre: Science Fiction Action Film

Director: Shankar

Producers: A Subaskaran

Written by: Shankar, B Jeyamohan (Dialogues) (Hindi Dialogues Abbas Tyrewala)

Screenplay: Shankar

Story: Shankar

Music by: Songs: A R Rahman

Background Score: A R Rahman, Qutub-E-Kripa

Cinematography: Nirav Shah

Edited by: Anthony

Production Company: Lyca Productions

Distributor: Lyca Productions, Dharma Productions, AA Films

Release Date: 29 November, 2018

Duration: 147 Minutes

Language: Tamil (Dubbed in Hindi and Telugu)