Review for BEAST:
•Language: Tamil
•Duration: 02 Hours 36 Minutes.
•Genre: ACTION THRILLER.
•THEATRE: ARIESPLEX SL CINEMAS TRIVANDRUM
•STATUS: HOUSEFULL (04:00 AM SHOW)
•REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R
• POSITIVES:
1: PERFORMANCE OF VIJAY.
2: MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE.
3: CINEMATOGRAPHY
4: EDITING.
5: ART DIRECTION.
6: FIGHT SEQUENCES.
• NEGATIVES:
1: DIRECTION IS AVERAGE.
2: POOR SCRIPT
3: THE ENTIRE STORY IS PREDICTABLE.
4: HALF BAKED SCREENPLAY.
•ONE WORD: Vijay shines on a senseless stupid action film.
•STORY IDEA:
The story revolves around a hostage incident, in Chennai a city named East Coast Mall had been hijacked by some group of terrorists. The Deputy Advisor officer in RAW called Althaf Hussain (Selvaraghavan) is the negotiator between the terrorist and government officials. The group of hostages includes the daughter of a minister and who will save them is the big question. Unfortunately, the most notorious spy of the Indian Military named Veeraraghavan (Vijay) was accidentally in the mall. Due to a past tragic incident, Veeraraghavan is having a small physiological problem and currently, he is no longer associated with the RAW. Still, Veeraraghavan will take the responsibility to save the group of innocents from the terrorist, how will he save them is the rest of the story.
•ANALYSIS OF STORY, DIRECTION, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES:
Beast is directed by Nelson who had previously directed the hit film Doctor and he is now back with his third film Beast. The story, screenplay and dialogues are written by him which includes the full script. The movie is produced by Kalanithi Maran under the Sun Pictures and the film is distributed by Red Giant Movies in Kerala, the film is distributed by Listen Stephen under Magic Frames.
The first half is filled with the introduction of the character which explains his job and his personal life. The character which connects with him is also introduced in the first half and with a convincing introduction the film is followed into the main backdrop of the hostage situation. How the hero Vijay tries to save the innocent people from the hostage is also shown in the first half. Another track in the first half is the political game by a minister, it was added in between the story which also connects the upcoming situations. After some of the rescue missions by the hero, the first half ends with the direct clash between the hero and villain. The second half of the movie is fully crammed with the cat and mouse play between the hero and the main villain. In the end, the hero conducted the rescue successfully killing all the villains and the tail end of the movie is the fight happening in the air through the fighter jet, by destroying the entire enemy the film finishes with a song. So now let’s crack the positives and negatives of this film.
The major negative factor of this film is the poor script. I am not saying that the direction is perfect, the making itself was weak but the most disappointing factor in this movie is the predictable story and the poorly written screenplay. The entire film is easily predictable, what’s going to happen next doesn’t create any sort of thrill. The way the director Nelson had written the script was not having proper depth, as a thriller film, the sickly written script doesn’t give us the right amount of excitement. The various situations in the film are happening simply and without making any kind of impact the incidents are shown in an easy half baked manner. I was really sad to see how the movie was occurring, the film was like forgetting to give the desired thrilling scenes. Moreover felt like a cliche rescue drama, the happenings between the hero and villain were hugely making resemblances to many other movies and series associated with this genre, especially Money Heist by the Netflix. Many shots and the way the terrorist handles the hostages were adapted from many spy movies, the rescue operation by the hero was also having the same faith of copying or rather can be called inspiration.
The making of Nelson is always fun, the biggest strength of his previous films was his directorial style and his previous film Doctor was one of my favourite films of last year. So when Nelson was teaming with Vijay I was expecting a special kind of film and after watching the trailer the expectation went down, it was like a normal Vijay film, hero trying to save innocents. But still, I was having the hope that the making was going to be different but unfortunately after watching the film I was extremely disappointed by the direction of Nelson. The surprising elements which Nelson used to bring into his movie and to his script had made me wonder, the films like Doctor and Kolamaavu Kokila are the best examples of that. But in Beast, he had sadly missed adding those surprising factors, no unexpected twist or any kind of unusual incident was found in his making. The only good thing was he had successfully used the calibre and stardom of Vijay, his style and his energetic way of acting were effectively seen in the whole film. The screen presence of Vijay was the only element that carried the movie forward, still, the duration and lagging were felt in many areas. Due to the regular way of average making the film was struggling to give the correct amount of entertainment so the chances of getting a dragging feel will be visible in the viewing experience. The movie was not boring but it was highly missing the thrilling scenes, the fights and action also did not have the impact to hook my mind. Nelson could have focused more on writing the screenplay, his making went with an ok flow but the unstable way of writing was killing my patience, if it was on OTT I would have surely skipped many scenes.
In the previous films Nelson had vigorously brought fresh entertaining comedies, he had successfully added many hilarious situations to the thriller backdrop and it was a delightfully satisfying experience. So I was sure that Nelson is going to follow the same track, expecting good comedies but unfortunately, the humour track on Beast hasn’t properly worked out. In the name of comedies, Nelson was creating unnecessary scenes, the humour was getting failed and again and again, the same pattern was followed. The comedies were not matching for the situations, it was like forcefully added, and was hard to tolerate. In the name of dark comedies, an annoying feel was all over felt, the humour was written silly and it was amateurish. Therefore, the comedy scenes of Yogi Babu and Redin Kingsley were exhausting and their humour failed to give the smile to give smile on my face. The only worked out comedies were the scenes of VTV Ganesh, his voice and expressions was giving the fun. Both in the first half and the second half some of his comedy scenes were entertaining and the combination with Vijay was also good. Also, another major drawback is the character depth, most of the characters in the film were badly written. The characters of Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley, Shine Tom Chacko, Aparana Das and Shaji Chen were carelessly written. If their character was written with the precise depth the totality of the film could have been changed, all of them simply come and go, their doings doesn’t justify the premise of the plot. Shaji Chen plays the role of a minister, his way of thinking and his actions were pathetic to watch. No minister in the country would think and do as he does, his entire character turned out as a joke, Nelson’s lazy writing was shocking, I never expected a disaster script like this from him.
While watching the movie Beast one should never think about the logic and the laws of physics, these factors don’t apply to this film. In the climax Vijay uses the fighter jet to kill the terrorist, how he rides it was miserable, in between showing his heroism while flying he removes the oxygen mask and makes a huge dialogue which was stupid to watch. He doesn’t need any kind of precaution or jacket while flying, when the missiles from the opposite direction come towards his direction the way he swings the jet upside down was hilarious to watch. Also, in the film, he is an ex-military so was wondering from where he had taken the fighter jet and without any complications, he was easily crossing into Pakistan air boundary, even the radar of Pakistan was not able to find his arrival. The speed of an AK47 bullet is not at all a big problem for Vijay, whenever an enemy shoot with it he jumps easily without even sweating. The funniest part is whenever Vijay is shooting the bullet it will get passed through the body of his enemies but when villains are shooting toward Vijay it doesn’t even come near to him, it will hit somewhere. So no logic is applied to this film and these senseless scenes are the biggest comedies rather than the written comedies.
Another major issue with the film Beast is it doesn’t have a good villain, the shown villain was shoddy. The fights between hero and villain were not that much pleasing and it was because of the hazardous way of writing. Why Nelson didn’t give character depth to the villain is a big question, if the villain was powerful the movie could have been thrilling. The dialogues written by the director Nelson were also mediocre, mass dialogues in the film was not having any power to create an impact. ”Oru Vati Mudivu Paniten na, En pecha naanae kekamaten” it’s a famous dialogue from the film Pokkiri by Vijay. Here in the major scenes, this same dialogue was once again brought and it was not syncing with the situation. The mass scenes in the film itself were weak, and deliberately to those weak scenes the hit dialogue from Pokkiri was added unwantedly, it was highly irritating. Also, the conversation happening between the major characters was not having a quality dialogue, their talkings were normal. In the important scenes also the lack of punch dialogue was a major issue, even for Vijay the writer Nelson has not given a proper mass punch dialogue.
•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS:
The movie Beast has the casting of Thalapathy Vijay as the hero followed by the cute Pooja Hedge, with one of my favourites director Selvaraghavan. Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley, VTV Ganesh, Aparna Das, Shine Tom Chacko, Bjorn Surrao, Ankur Vikal and Shaji Chen are the rest of the actors in the film.
It’s a Vijay movie and that’s just enough to grab the tickets. The celebration inside the theatre for a Vijay film on the first day first show is priceless. I always book the ticket for the early morning show for his film, the cheering voices and whistling sound inside the theatre offer a special feeling, that emotion is hard to explain and it’s something I don’t want to miss. As a girl, many have asked me why do you prefer to watch the FDFS with many boys and my only answer to them was the boys of Vijay Fans know how to take care of their sister. They are the energy and no fans can beat them. So no matter where I am, I will find the place where FDFS is and doesn’t forget to book the tickets.
Vijay appears as Veeraraghavan, one of the most notorious spies of the Indian Army. The movie Beast is all about the fascinating performance of Vijay, his screen presence and his amazing energy enlightened my viewing fantastic experience. The craziness of Vijay Fans during his mass scenes had given me goosebumps, the sort of real excitement and the thrilling mood was easily given by Vijay through his performance. His action sequences in the film Beast is a treat to watch, and offer the best moments of excitement. The character Veeraraghavan played by Vijay is one of the best trained and skilled soldiers in the country so his body language as a soldier was lustrously acted out by him. Vijay throughout the movie hasn’t missed the personality of a brave committed soldier, he perfectly maintained the attitude without losing his grasp. Vijay’s action sequences and fights were beaming with the satire of a brave saviour. His fearless way of handling the situations and the way of fighting back for survival were enriched with many thrilling scenes and he handled those situations easily in his unique style. The facial expressions he denotes during the action sequences were intense, the looks were also dashing during the stunts. The shots in which Vijay holds the gun and uses sharp knives to kill the enemies look heroic, the way of his killing is followed with a swag style of a mass hero. Not just the fights, he was also extraordinary while dancing especially in the song “Arabic Kuthu”. The costumes he used during the dance were ravishing and the modern dress made him look younger. His dance moves were stunning, the way he dances, the way he shakes his body and the way he does the difficult steps was exhibiting his skills. The salt and pepper look was also matching for his style, the beard was filled with grey hair and it had given him a more alluring look. The dialogue delivery was also excellent, the brave statement of a committed soldier was told vigorously by Vijay. Also during and before the action sequences his mass dialogues had created extra energy inside the theatre among the fans. His timing was also accurate during the time of dialogue delivery. His modulation in speaking went well and situational changes haven’t created any problems for Vijay while having the different types of conversation. The sharp keen looks he expressed on his face was good, while expressing the ideologies of a soldier his serious looks was having the emotion of a real soldier. So overall Vijay had given all his best efforts to make the character powerful, his commitment and energy were terrific and his action sequences are a worthy treat to watch.
Pooja Hedge as the heroine did a nice job, her appearance was gorgeous and her cute smile is always lovely to watch. The combination scene with Vijay was favourable for the situations and it was nice to watch. Their chemistry was fine, the romantic angle had also worked out, and both look good as a pair. Her dancing for the songs “Arabic Kuthu” and “Jolly O Gymkhana” was glamorous and her outlook was looking sexy. Her dance moves were flexible and her expression with the cutest smile makes her look more beautiful. The duty of performing the comedies was given to Yogi Babu and Redin Kingsley. Both of them were having the duty to do the situational humour scenes and without making them over-dramatic they maintained the flow with a good balance and timing. Their expressions while performing the humour was great and they were able to spread smiles to our face. Selvaraghavan as Madhav Singh had a great role as the mediator between the government officials and terrorists. His acting was mixed with a serious mannerism of a higher rank officer and he superbly maintained it till the end. His dialogue delivery and powerful voice had given more depth to the character and his acting was satisfying. Aparna Das and VTV Ganesh were also having an important job to do, they were held as hostages and both of them did a notable job. Aparna Das in the movie played the role of the Minister’s daughter so she was held as the main hostage. So Aparna Das was having enough screen space for performing and she did her best. Shine Tom Chacko was having a crucial role as a supporting artist and his performance was nice. He had acted out the emotional scenes genuinely, to perform he was having less but still he had a fair job. The artist who had appeared as the main villain was bad, his acting was moderate and till the end somehow he had managed to end the performance decently.
•MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE:
The musical works for the film are composed by the hitmaker Anirudh Ravichander which includes the songs and background score. This is the third time the director Nelson joined with Anirudh, their combo always gives the best music and their last film Doctor was having superhit songs and the songs of Kolamaavu Kokila were also on the hit chart. So Anirudh-Nelson is once again back for a Thalapathy Vijay film and now the songs are out and the soundtrack was a massive hit. The first track “Arabic Kuthu” is now trending all over the world and also on the TikTok platform. It was a delightful song and worldwide acceptance was received for the song. The song “Arabic Kuthu” was sung by the composer itself Anirudh Ravichander along with the hit singer Jonitha Gandhi. The tune of the song is what makes “Arabic Kuthu” different, the culture of the Arabic song and the musical instruments used makes resemblances to the style of the Arabic song. The lyrics are not Arabic but still, it has close similarities to their language and these unique lyrics are written by our hit actor Sivakarthikeyan. After the Hit film Doctor, the three combos of Nelson-Anirudh-Sivakarthikeyan are back, their fun way of making the songs is always charming. Before the release of the song “Arabic Kuthu” a promo video comprising Anirudh, Nelson and Sivakarthikeyan was released it was also a big hit on Youtube. The promo video of the song was funny, three of them were enjoying their comeback after the film Doctor and the way they decided to make the song in the Arabic style and the final decision to make Sivakarthikeyan as a lyricist was enjoyable to watch. I loved the song, the dance moves in the song were fantastic and even sometimes I felt like dancing while listening. Without the lyrics of Sivakarthikeyan, this song could have been a disaster, his sense of humour and comic words had made the song unique. Also, Anirudh and Jonatha enjoyed singing “Arabic Kuthu” with lots of fun and with no complications so the singing maintained the precise flow. The theatre experience given by the song “Arabic Kuthu” was priceless, fans were enjoying every single bit of it and the energy they showed was sparkling with love. The second song called “Jolly O Gymkhana” was a colourful track with cool dance moves by Vijay and Pooja Hedge. The oceanic premise in the song and the beach-oriented casual dress given for the characters made it appealing. The voice of Vijay stood higher to grab the attention, his voice and his way of singing style was suited for the song. The third single “Beast Mode” was amazing, the lyrics written by Vivek were setting the mood of excitement and thrill. The action and fight scenes of Vijay had made this song more enchanting because his style and attitude were conforming to the tunes to have a mass appeal. So overall the three singles tuned by Anirudh were impressive and the song “Arabic Kuthu” turned out to be my favourite.
It’s a thriller movie with a hostage ambience, the happenings are enclosed with actions so the background score needs to be forged relatively. So to give the proper mass feel so without creating any errors Anirudh Ravichander gives the fairest background music, his background score is one of the plus factors of Beast. As a thriller film, the background score should peak at the front to create the thrill so in Beast the background score was successfully lifting the desired emotions. For example, the background score by Anirudh was victorious in building the right amount of eagerness and excitement. The fight sequences of Vijay were wonderful to watch but they had become more effective because of the background score, the BGM was uplifting his attitude and personality. Also, his fighting style and the dialogues were gleaming with the mass heroic feel, when the crucial scenes ended it was equalized with the correct background score so the important scenes were ending properly.
The surprising stuff was the development of curiosity in the background score, it came out well. There are many happenings in the script and the thriller backdrop of the film was demanding these types of tunes which can create curiosity. So Anirudh had cleverly understood the various situations of the film and the appropriate background score was given for each circumstance.
•TECHNICAL ASPECTS:
The technical division for the film had done some impressive teamwork, from the cinematography to the artwork the movie was having quality in technicality. The core plot of the movie happens in a shopping mall so the movie set and its arrangement need to exhibit the atmosphere of a mall. So here the visuals by the cinematographer and the prospect structure by the Art Department justify the outlook of an imaginary happening.
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa was a heart whelming romantic movie with pleasant visuals and from that movie I was following the cinematographer as a fan and its none other than Manoj Paramahamsa. The cinematography for Beast is done by Manoj Paramahamsa so when it was announced that he is doing the camera work I was having huge expectations and happily the visuals came out more than the expectations. Like I said above the story happens inside a mall where hostages are held by the terrorist so the visuals were having the approximate strength to capitalise on the theme of the story. The action sequence in the cinematography was the best, the camera movements and the sudden change of camera shift were stunning to watch. The immediate change of movements during the gunshots was also setting the mood of enthusiasm. During these fight scenes, the fans were at their full energy to make noises for their favourite star Vijay because the visuals were having the governing power to give applause and whistles. The placement of the camera was positioned in many places so the full coverage was giving various angles of action sequences. Therefore the hero Vijay was seen as stylish while doing the action sequences, his fighting style was enriching the screen. The inside of the mall, the happenings in the mall and the fight against the group of villains were captured authentically according to the plot. There were some adequate shots of closeups, the character’s face was focused in a close-up manner to express their acting skills. The emotions of fear play a crucial role in the film, as hostages the characters are supposed to express the fear on their faces. So here the cinematographer cleverly captures their fear and their expressions of anxiety were also smartly seen in the cinematography. Therefore because of the vigilant camera work, the acting skills of every actor in the film were seen brightly. Actor Vijay always looks charming when it comes while doing the action scenes, his moves, the way he fights also the kind of attitude he expresses denotes the signs of a mass hero. So understanding this scenario the cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa has dazzlingly taken every single move of Vijay glamorously. The costume of Vijay, his walking, his fight, his mass dialogue deliveries and his stunts with the gun was having very much attractive shots and angles. The stardom of Vijay is big, to make his fans happy the cinematographer had taken his fights and close up shots in a peculiar style for pleasing them. The gunshots in the film were fascinating to watch, a single army man (special agent) vs a group of terrorist was comprised of numerous gunshots and enthralling fights. Here the cinematographer utilized his camera knowledge congruously and his vision on how to apprehend these types of visuals was evident in the film. The wide-angle frames were plenty, normal wide-angle shots were used to show the exterior and interior of the mall so that a viewer was able to understand the surroundings and corners of the mall. The captured visuals for the song “Arabic Kuthu” were outstanding, the dance of Vijay and Pooja Hedge created the celebration mood with a cute romantic angle. Also, the visuals of the song “Jolly O Gymkhana” were different on a studio backdrop with cool dance moves of Vijay and Pooja Hedge and the visuals by the cameraman brought the mood of a party celebration. The lighting techniques given by Manoj Paramahamsa was also masterfully settled, the inside mall was maintained with sufficient lighting arrangements so that the visuals were having enough glow. The shots in the dark area were also having the applicable lighting, in the indoor scenes, the fights of Vijay in low lighting was looking stylish. There are shots in the low lighting set up where Vijay holding the gun, having the fights with the terrorist and shooting bravely was summoned with the accurate method of lighting. The most interesting visuals in the cinematography were the fight against the terrorist camp. The visuals of fighter jets flying speedily and the bomb attack through the fighter jets were shot uniquely. Also, Vijay sitting on these fighter jets and launching the bombs against his enemies was beautiful to see, it was one of the best shots from Manoj Paramahamsa in Beast. The editing for the film is by the debutant R. Nirmal which was good. The cuts were at the precise spot and no mismatches were felt in the viewing experience. Due to the fine cuts, the transition of the scene from one to another was also having the faultless syncing and the viewing through the big screen was smooth. The colour grading in the editing was wonderful because in the dark indoor scene the colour grading was matching the situation and looked good. The dual-tone of colour and the blackish shade in the low lighting action scenes was having the proper quality. Therefore the action scene had an extra visually pleasing tone to impress the viewing experience. The works done by the Art Department for this movie are something that shows the brilliance of creative thinking. The team behind the art department had made this movie look classic, a shopping mall was built realistically and it was exactly looking like a real one. The shops in the mall, the floorings of the mall, the design and building style of the mall, the properties used in the mall and everything which we can find in a huge mall was smartly created and assembled by the Art Department. Their creative way of doing the arrangements maximised the visual quality and made the movie look gratifying. The graphics in the film were convincing, the fighter jet scene was satisfying and the fights and flying stunts looked promising. Still, no one in this world can fly a fighter jet without a helmet and a proper code of dressing is applied at the time of flying but here Vijay without all these on a bloodshed face flies simply and launches the missiles simply which was a big mistake. The controlling liver used for the flying was a game stick, I was shocked to see that and like these silly senseless mistakes were funny to watch. Using an 8X Scope in an AK47 and jumping and shooting with it without falling was also not that much pleasing. The weight of the gun is too much, using the 8X scope is for long-distance but here the hero uses it for style rather than long distance. Also with the weight gun, Vijay simply jumps to the ground and shoots his enemies without wasting any bullets, it was like a superhero killing the villains. So the movie lacks much logic and the laws of physics don’t apply to this flick but still, the screen presence and action sequences of Vijay make these mistakes dilute.
•CONCLUSION:
So overall to conclude the film Beast written and directed by Nelson was a huge disappointment, the badly written script was the main villain of the film. Even the performance of Vijay was not able to save this sinking ship, the average making from Nelson and the worst writing of the screenplay had made this movie unentertaining. So I won’t recommend this below-average movie to anyone so if you are a fan of Vijay you can watch it for once but never watch it with any expectations.
•VERDICT: WATCH IT AT YOUR OWN RISK
•RATING: 2/5
