Thunivu (2023)

If I were asked to choose between Ajith and Vijay at gun point, I’d not hesitate to choose Ajith. One, he’s one of those limited actors who can work well within the confines of his capacity. He sucks when he attempts to push himself. But within his comfortable zone he can weave magic and be very entertaining.

And that what kept me in the movie theater till the end, in this, otherwise a wannabe, bank heist thriller.

Joining the excitement of seeing gravity defying, physics spitting films doing well of late, even getting recognition at prestigious award shows, Thunivu is very generous in incredulous, verifiably silly action sequences. Some fans would laud this, but in the absence of circus tents around the world which has long since stopped enticing to watch bearded lady and Dick Grayson’s parents fall to their respective “origin story” deaths, movies have been delighting these passive adrenaline junkies. Tom Cruise’s career depends on it. Thunivu thrives on it.

Then the Tamil movies obsession with flashback sequences. This Tamil Movie flashbackitis strikes after intermission. To and fro, we get expositional orgies of plot “correcting” information, coincidences, and convenient backstories. It’s relentless, and completely unengaging. If the film just stayed at the bank and allowed the character interaction to reveal fragments of those backstories through dialogues and actions, it would have been a smarter tale despite the amateur pyrotechnics and terrible supporting casts and worst extras.

Like Rajini, Ajith these days merely sells his image. Nothing wrong with that. His character here fills like a continuation of one he played in Mangatha, a film that I really enjoyed, especially his performance.

Ajith still excels in wearing negative shades to his character’s personality. He carries that attitude and that is why I hung on to him, instead of walking out when the relentless flashback attack began. His insanity kept the film together, strangely. 

The heist story and the marionette act with bigger powers that be planning a headline making tragedy is not new. Ask Michael Mann who has been perfecting the sub-genre since the 1981 film he directed James Caan in, Thief. After years of history of Tamil film attacking politics and politicians (and the industry players joining them anyway), this film goes after the finance sector and the behind the scenes players. Some viewers not too savvy with the sector’s working might be lost as to how account holders are being robbed, but we get the picture. It’s not too different than swindling politicians. Voters and consumers are like addicts and alcoholics, lessons are often learned too late. So, don’t sneer at us ex Rehab inhabitants.

Anyway taking Ajith out the film would make this flick as interesting as half boiled egg white  The plot tries to be clever, but could have been clearer. The action scenes tries to be clever, but could have been clearer. The other characters tries to be clever, but almost all, especially the cops come off as uniformly uninformed uniformed dumbasses. Clarity won’t cut it. #rakeshmovietalk