Michael Review

PUBLISHED DATE : 03/Feb/2023

Michael Review

Michael Review

Ashwin Ram


 

Michael is a period action saga featuring Sandeep Kishan in the lead role alongside Vijay Sethupathi, Gautam Vasudev Menon, etc. The film is directed by Ranjit Jeyakodi and music is composed by Sam.C.S.

 

Premise: 


Michael arrives in Bombay in his teenage years with a revenge motive. He joins with Gautam Vasudev Menon, a wealthy gangster in the city to achieve his target easily. His path to destiny forms the remaining movie.

 

Writing/ Direction:

The film has the familiar Rise-of-a-Man storyline in a revenge backdrop. Though the path is usual, the plot is convincing when the true colours are revealed at the very end. But the key factor, the screenplay is heavily screwed up in most of the places. There is not even a single exciting moment nor one powerful plot-twist. The situations are old-school and they have been conceived in a lame manner, in the sense, plenty of serious talkie portions land in a funny way. Already the writing is a big dud and the screenplay tests the patience as most of the scenes are needlessly long-drawn-out and repetitive too. Though a majority of the public did not find Ranjith Jeyakodi’s previous outing Ispade Rajavum Idhaya Raniyum to be appealing, he proved he is an original filmmaker with an unique voice. But here, every bit taking place reminds us of a bunch of movies, it badly desires to be a K.G.F, goes on to The Godfather space, then we get to see it slowly turning into a Vikram and what not. The hero does everything for a girl, characters think it is for his girlfriend, but the girl who he actually does things for is his mom, but unfortunately both the tracks are extremely feeble for us to relate to his emotions. And it’s predominantly a dubbing movie, almost 99% is shot in Telugu and converted to Tamil in post-production, the narrative dialogues add value.

 

Performances:

Sandeep Kishan’s effort is visible in his beefed-up physique and he has put in a lot of hardwork for the action scenes and he has made them look believable on-screen. Heroine Divyansha Kaushik looks good but doesn’t emote much even in some crucial dramatic scenes. Gautam Vasudev Menon initially looks like a neat fit to the gangster world, but he fails to impress as things become more serious, especially his body language is monotonous at places. Vijay Sethupathi in an extended cameo does a poor job, his scenes were poorly built at first place with unwanted high-speed shots, and he spoils them further by leaving so many pauses between one dialogue to the other. Weak roles for both the supporting ladies Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and Anasuya Bharadwaj, no scope to perform as well.

 

Technicalities:

Solid sounding throughout, undoubtedly one of the best works from Sam.C.S with respect to background score, however the songs are average. Outstanding cinematography, great framing sense, immensely deep and visible night shots mainly due to some knowledgeable lighting sense. Some nice and neat inter-cuts by the editor, but the basic element which is the runtime is overly long and tiring. Quality planning and execution from the stunt team, the fight scenes are a bit cinematic yet has that realistic approach to it. Appreciable production-quality, the visuals match the period timeline in which the story is said to be happening, the art department has efficiently utilized the budget allocated to them.

 

Bottomline


Technically sound, but a huge disappointment is what we get in terms of screenwriting. Has a decent backstory that is good enough to make a gripping actioner, nothing can be done if the flow is so disastrous and dragging.


Michael - A Wannabe K.G.F!

Rating - 2/ 5

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