Premise: A youngster from North Madras who is living a simple life is accused of murdering the area MLA, Surya Sethupathi is sentenced to be under Juvenile custody. Why he killed such a big shot, their conflict and backstory form this violent saga.

Writing/ Direction:  An A-rated flick that stays true to the genre and its storyworld. The first half entirely takes place inside a juvenile prison that lacks substance and focuses solely on back to back action blocks. We never get an idea of the script till the interval block, thankfully it was less than an hour and the brutal action stretches act as the saviour. It has an underdog flavour by nature, but the treatment is contradictory as the director has given over-heroic buildups to the debutant Surya Sethupathi. But surprisingly it quite worked because of the slow-motion shots, powerful fight sequences with some cool music, however it is nowhere near political correctness as a 17-year old has committed a murder. There are a couple of interesting aspects in writing, the interval block and shockingly presenting a vengeful act in the later half, unfortunately it was not enough and the film needed a lot more. Good that the runtime is just a crisp 2-hours, but the content is mediocre, especially the lengthy flashback with rushed tournament portions and carries many usual tropes in the dramatic front, the emotional impact is very minimal. The screenplay is driven by revenge, it has got the basic logic perfect, unfortunately the situations become repetitive as the villains keep trying to attack the hero and the action scenes galore as a defence mechanism.

Performances: Surya Sethupathi fit well in the shoes of a young fighter, he excels in performing the high-octane stunts believably, but facial reaction-wise he needs a lot of improvement. Kaaka Muttai fame Vignesh has done well, carrying the weak backstory on his shoulders. Sampath, Varalakshmi Sarathkumar, Devadarshini and Harish Uthaman form the supporting cast, but their characterizations need better detailing. Because of which none of their performances lay a strong mark.

Technicalities: Sam.C.S does what he is good at, holding the film with his background music, he does elevate heroism to a nice extent. There are two songs, a romantic montage number sounds instantly pleasant and a local Kuthu number is dull and its placement was also forceful. Neat work by DOP Velraj, he has captured all the racy fights with so much clarity, the colour tone is very much in line with the storyworld. The film is well edited too, one major flaw is the hurried presentation of the MMA matches except for the finals, duration is a huge advantage for the output. Exceptional stunt choreography, the majority of the engagement is through the tightly packed fight sequences, staged superbly as well.

Verdict: The brutal fight sequences keep the momentum alive, substance is insufficient. The flashback lacks newness and misses to provide a hard impact for us to root, yet many elements are carefully done to be faithful to the taken storyworld.

PHOENIX - Holds as a Blind Actioner, but the Content Falters!

Rating - 2.5/ 5.