Jailer Review: The powerful comeback of Rajinikanth and Nelson, a must-watch commercial entertainer.
- REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI R
•Language: TAMIL
•Duration: 02 Hours 49 Minutes.
•Genre: Black-Comedy Action Thriller.
•POSITIVES:
1: Direction of Nelson
2: Performance of Rajinikanth
3: Story, screenplay and dialogues
4: Cameo appearances of Mohanlal, Shiva Rajkumar and Jackie Shroff
5: Music and Background Score
6: Comedies
7: Cinematography
8: Editing
9: Action sequences
10: Climax
•NEGATIVES:
1: A slight lag in the mid-second half.
- ONE WORD: The powerful comeback of Rajinikanth and Nelson, a perfect commercial entertainer.
•STORY IDEA:
Muthuvel Tiger Pandian (Rajinikanth) also known as Muthu lives a calm simple life with his family whose son is a police officer named Arjun(Vasanth Ravi). The dispute arises between Arjun and Varma(Vinayakan) where Varma is involved in the illegal trade of old statues. The peaceful life of Muthu’s family will be disturbed by Varma and the consequences of abducting Arjun are the rest of the story in the movie.
•DETAIL REVIEW:
The film Jailer is written and directed by Nelson who had previously done Beast with Vijay. The movie is produced by Kalanithi Maran under Sun Pictures. Anirudh Ravichander composed the musical work, Vijay Karthik Kanan did the cinematography and R. Nirmal did the editing. The movie is censor certified with U/A and with a running time of 168 minutes the film is currently running in the theatres.
When the Beast film was released it came with lots of negative reviews and the director Nelson was highly criticized by the fans and media. For them, Nelson had given the reply through Jailer, what an awesome film he had made. The Jailer is having a long duration of 168 minutes and all I can say is one will be hooked and engaged within the film. With no lag and no bore elements, Jailer is crafted with the right components to entertain the people. I loved the film and enjoyed it from the beginning till the end. This is what we call a commercial entertainer, the Rajini Swag and the cameo appearances of Mohanlal and Shiva Rajkumar were outstanding. The direction and the script of Nelson were top class and it had the power to give an unforgettable theatre experience. When we look into the entire film everything was made on the right balance and the style of filmmaking done by Nelson had given more strength to Jailer.
The script was genuinely written by Nelson, and the elements needed for a Rajini movie were brilliantly crammed into the whole story and screenplay. For the fans of Rajini, I’m sure Jailer will be a massive treat not just for the fans but also for the action movie lovers. How Nelson portrayed Rajini’s character of Muthuvel Tiger Pandian deserves special mention. The transformation in the character of Jailer was amazingly written out by Nelson. The different shades and from an innocent man to a rogue one were magnificently presented throughout the movie. The style and the dialogue of Rajini will make you clap and blow whistles. In Jailer we will be able to see Rajinikanth in full energy, his form and his body language were wonderful to watch. I can’t believe he is 72 years old, the spark in his acting, the expressions and his attitude at this age were unbelievable.
The screenplay was loaded with lots of humour situations and the atmosphere of black comedy scenes was flawlessly made by Nelson. The kind of mood which the film offers is different, the making style of Nelson and the solid script were dominating and I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. The comedy scenes came out well, the portions of Yogi Babu and Rajinikanth in the first half had good moments to evoke lots of laughs. The direction of Nelson had a powerful foundation to carry the movie forward. As Rajinikanth said in the audio launch “Captain of the ship is the director and directors are the ones who take me forward”, respectively, the trust which Rajinikanth had in Nelson must be appreciated. In Jailer we will be able to see the real chemistry happening between a director and an actor. The instructions of Nelson to portray the character ‘Muthuvel Tiger Pandian’ was perfectly acted out by Rajinikanth.
The emotions in the script were cleverly written out by Nelson because the father-son scenes had the right momentum to build the emotional angle. The ending portion was sentimental and touching, and the acting skill of Rajinikanth in the last minutes was showcasing the love and affection of a real father. The next plus factor in the script is Nelson tried his best to avoid the issues of predictability. The twist in the story was unexpected and it gave more solidity to the premise. The next winning factor in the script is how Nelson characterized Malayalam actor Vinayakan as a villain. Vinayakan did as an extreme and brutal villain, the negative shades of his character were given tough fights for our hero Rajinikanth. The villain character was effective and the combination of scenes of Rajinikanth and Vinayakan is a major highlight of Jailer. This time the entire direction of Nelson looks passionate and the way he directed the film was not like his previous film. No issues of continuity were seen and throughout he gives an engaging kind of filmmaking.
Nelson had taken his deserted time to establish the story, till the movie touches on the main plot, Nelson was trying to establish the character of Rajinikanth. His calmness, his love towards his son, and the family scenes gave an impression. But at the point when the movie tracks into the actual plot the total schematic of the movie suddenly changes. The Mass avatar of Rajinikanth is what we can see in the rest of the film. So how Nelson brilliantly showed Rajini’s character deserves special mention. The first half had a mix of comedy scenes plus action and the scenes of hero and villain so the full first half was cracked with engaging elements. The second half was completely different, the track of the movie was changing into another sphere. Importance was given more to a rescue mission and it was packed with guns and fights. In between comedies were added and some humour scenes went well but some didn’t. A slight lag may be felt in the second half but all that lag was overthrown by the gigantic climax. I can assure and guarantee you that the climax will give your goosebumps.
The choice of casting done by Nelson was terrific. From Mollywood, he selected the Complete Actor Mohanlal, from Kannada he chose Shiva Rajkumar and from Hollywood the actor Jackie Shroff. All those cameo appearances were lit, and the theatre experience during those cameos was mind-blowing. The portions of Mohanlal made me whistle, his looks and the walk-in slow motion were mass and heroic. Shiva Rajkumar’s expression and intense look were impressive and Jackie Shroff with his dialogue made the movie grand. Among the cameo appearances, the portions of Mohanlal were more vibrant and sturdy and thanks to Nelson for giving such an effective cameo role for Mohanlal. The climax of Jailer is something that should be seen on the big screen because it was totally dynamic and no doubt everyone will be satisfied. The dance of Tamannaah Bhatia was also gorgeous, the song ‘Kaavaalaa’ flaunted the beauty and dance skills of Tamannaah.
The Musical work composed by Anirudh Ravichander is one of the major winning factors of Jailer. The background score was tremendous to set the impact. Anirudh had given the right appropriate background score for every scene. Whenever an important scene was taking place it had the backup of the right tunes and as a viewer, I felt fully satisfied. The use of the Hukum song as the background score was electrifying for the mass scenes of Rajinikanth. For the sentimental scenes also he had implemented suitable tunes to build an emotional angle and it had the voice of Anirudh and was also nice to hear. The background score given for the scenes of Mohanlal was attractive and it gave more appealing beauty to his screen presence. The songs in Jailer are already on the trending list and the song Hukum is my favorite among the soundtracks. The lyrics of Hukum are massive and prove that Rajinikanth is the one and only Superstar. The feeling that I got when I heard it in the theatre is unforgettable and made me blow whistles. The ‘Kaavaalaa’ song with the beats and tune sung by Shilpa Rao was superb and the dance of Tamannaah was lovely. The use of the Jailer theme song in the film was also matching to set the needed impact.
The cinematography by Vijay Karthik Kanan was loaded with good visuals and his many wide-angle frames gave more visual appeal for the film. The closeup frames of Rajinikanth show what he can do with his eyes, the expressions flowed with powerful acting. The editing of R. Nirmal was engaging and never felt the duration of 168 minutes was boring. The transition of the scene was also nicely implemented and the cuts didn’t give the feel of mismatch. The colour tune in the film looks impressive and the action sequences and sniper shooting scenes didn’t feel exaggerated. The artwork was fair and the costumes given for major characters were matching. The supporting actors had also done a great job. Ramya Krishnan as Ashtalakshmi, Muthuvel’s wife did well. Mirnaa Menon, G. Marimuthu, and Aranthangi Nisha also scored well in their respective roles. Yogi Babu was cool and his comedies entertained me well. Muthuvel’s son role did by Vasanth Ravi was a notable performance and the combination of scenes with Rajinikanth was fantastic, especially at the ending. Sunil as Blast Mohan and Redin Kingsley had the humour roles and most of them worked out.
- CONCLUSION:
So overall the film ‘Jailer’ had given me an unforgettable first-day first-show experience and I loved the film. The direction and script of Nelson were on the right track and he brilliantly executed the film. The whole movie was engaging and had many powerful moments of Rajinikanth. For the fans of Rajinikanth, the movie Jailer will be a massive treat. The energetic performance of Rajinikanth and the cameo appearance of Mohanlal and Shiva Rajkumar is also another winning highlight. The music and background by Anirudh Ravichander are also the backbone of Jailer. Therefore, without any doubt, I will recommend Jailer to everyone and you will love Rajinikanth as ‘Muthuvel Tiger Pandian’. The Super Star Rajinikanth is back and it’s ‘Hukum, Tiger Ka Hukum’. Never miss this mass entertainer, do watch it on the big screen.
•VERDICT: Blockbuster Loading, don’t miss Jailer.
•RATING: 4/5
- A REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI R
