Blast Review

Ashwin Ram

Blast is an action thriller starring Arjun, Abhirami and Preity Mukhundhan. Directed by debutant Subash K Raj and the music is scored by Ravi Basrur. The project is bankrolled by AGS Entertainment.

Premise: Arjun, his wife Abhirami and their daughter Preity Mukhundhan are all well-trained Karate professionals. A series of crimes lead to the family, they step in to save themselves and end up doing good for the society by exposing the entire mafia group.

Writing/ Direction:  The crime world setup feels familiar, but the concept of a family taking charge with their martial arts skills gives the film a refreshing touch. The Karate aspect adds authenticity to the action-heavy narrative. The film spends ample time establishing the family and their dynamics in the initial portions, the audiences are given too much information about the family. Despite the detailing, there are separate scenes for every character from the family that showcase their individuality, in fact Preity Mukhundhan gets multiple high-octane fight sequences. Thankfully, there is sufficient drama to back it and the way certain scenes are staged make them interesting. The writing happens to work well when the subjects and the characters start to intersect each other. Several layers that connect the cops, criminals and the central family are neatly placed in the pre-interval area. The second half begins on a brisk note with a couple of smart and quirky moments that keep the screenplay engaging. Later, the film shifts more into a full-fledged action mode with the leads going all-out. While the focus leans heavily towards action and commercial highs, the stunt set pieces are conceived with conviction and executed in an engaging manner for the big screen. A treatment somewhat similar to Kolamaavu Kokila has been attempted here, with the family angle driving the narrative. The emotional portions could have had a little more depth to strengthen the connection with the characters.  Slow motion is overused, plenty of simple shots are forcefully pushed to the category. The coincidences are handled in an interesting manner, and the film effectively shows how simple human errors can lead to major consequences.

Performances: Action King leading from the front, a subject that does justice for the actor’s tag after so long, Arjun has pulled it off effortlessly. But it is Preity Mukhundhan who is show-stealer here, such authentic punches and in spite of her lean physique, she is a perfect Shero material. Arjun Chidambaram rocks as the antagonist, he has single-handedly created tension in the flow with his menacing presence and body language. Abhirami has given her best, her fighting skills improve as the film progresses, probably she managed to gain more training alongside the shooting. Dummy role for Vivek Prasanna, things became repetitive and routine by the time his small twist came up.

Technicalities: No songs and it is a big relief for a screenplay flick as such. Ravi Basrur’s background score is weak, there are no intended themes. Also he has gone unstoppable with techno tunes and queues by leaving zero gap for the music to breathe. Cinematography is good, no experiments or anything and has clearly presented the content, but sadly the cameraman has blindly followed the director’s instructions by overly using the slow motion capture. Pradeep E.Raghav’s editing is a mixed bag, there is definite scope to avoid the extra detailing and cut-to-the-chase, especially in the beginning, however his placement of shots for coinciding portions are appreciable. Huge credit to the entire stunt choreographer Phoenix Prabhu and team, the film has been elevated several notches higher due to their impeccable work, and of course the artist co-operation also plays a key role, paving way for powerful and cinematic action sequences throughout.

Verdict: Interesting interlink screenplay is boosted by the punchy fights, it was great to watch Preity Mukhundhan and Arjun Chidambaram perform action on-screen. The never ending slow-motion shots make things sluggish along with some flat drama.

BLAST - Delivers action highs with a strong commercial flavor!

Rating: 3.25/5