Singam 2 FDFS Review - Overdose

Director Hari doesn't waste a minute as Singam-2 starts exactly where Singam wrapped up. After 6 months staying under the radar, Duraisingam who works as NCC teacher in a town school as per the home minister's request, decides to take charge after he uncovers a dangerous web of criminal network. Duraisingam sets up "Operation D" as he he takes on international drug dealer in this second (and hopefully concluding) episode.

The premise is somewhat interesting and story knots are good enough. However, the problem crops up when the director tries to pack almost 4 hours worth of content into 2.5 hours. As a result, every scene seems rushed and gives you the feeling of watching the movie in "fast forward" from start to finish.

Suriya's Unwavering Commitment

Suriya is fit, energetic and does his part extremely well with full commitment. Suriya's earnestness as a doting lover, teacher, son, and cop deserves applause. Suriya shows the aggression with no restraint as he decimates local and international villains while delivering hard punches (verbally and physically). However,  Suriya's lighter portions are more enjoyable than the countless action scenes in the movie. Suriya has worked harder than the first part encouraged by its phenomenal success. Unfortunately, the impact Suriya may leave on you as you exit the theatre is not commensurate with his efforts.

Hari Doubles the Dose

The director's intentions are clear right from the word 'go'. He wanted to make every minute of 167 minutes of running time as pacy as possible. Hari overly eager to satisfy the fans decides to provide an overdose of every single aspect that worked in the first part. Hari confident in his ability to weave a racy and gripping screenplay, decides to tightly compress a truck load of content within limited time. That's where the director loses his control over the script. The pace works fine in the first half and the first few minutes of second half. As it progresses into the second half, scenes and shots appear to become awfully repetitive and the audience starts groaning towards the climax as Suriya confronts the poorly characterized villain(Daniel Sapani).

Overcrowded Cast and Characters

Hari has doubled down on the casting side as well. The movie has 2 comedians (Santhanam and Vivek), 2 heroines (Anushka, Hansika not counting the item dancer Anjali) and at least 3 full-fledged villains and countless other character artists -- all of them stepping on each other's toes screaming for screen space. Anushka's assured presence and Hansika's trademark expressions provide some respite in this non-stop action movie. Santhanam scores again with his Enthiran entry, Gangnam dance moves and Vishwaroopam fight while Vivek is comparatively subdued in his brief role. Actor Rahman does a slightly better job compared to the other villains.

Technical Team Works Overtime

In order to achieve Hari's vision of making an unbridled racy movie, three technicians have worked hard behind the scenes. Priyan's camera incessantly zooms, hovers, pans and never takes a break for even a moment. Editor VT Vijayan abruptly cuts, ramps most scenes and hardly cares for smooth transitions between scenes. Devi Sri Prasad keeps the tempo of background music uniformly high throughout. Devi Sri Prasad has done a better job in background score compared to the songs. The choreography and stunt sequences appear to be similar to the first part.

Bottomline

If only Hari had removed dozen odd scenes, underlined important scenes, took the necessary time for build-ups and punctuated the transitions, Singam-2 would have been as good as the first part.

Reviewer Rating  -