Lokesh Kanagaraj brings together the spy -rich world of Kamal Hasan's 1986 film Vikram with his own 2019 film Kaithi, the action -packed world of drug lords and cops in Vikram , a predictable, more caring action film set to expand its universe without really addressing it. It holds the mysteries of a spy movie and offers the thrills of an action movie to certain degree, but it doesn't leave behind the adrenaline rush that a film with such high ambitions promises.

The film begins intriguingly as Karnan (Kamal Hasan) , the father of martyr-cop Prapanchan (Kalidas Jayaram), is killed. We learn that there have been a number of such killings, with a group of masked men claiming responsibility, calling it their war on the system.

Police Cheif Jose (Chemban Vinod Jose) brings in an intelligence team lrd by Amar (Fahadh Faasil), who begins to look into Karnan's life. The prime suspect is Santhanam (Vijay Sethupathi), a fearsome drug lord  with a large family who is looking for a shipment of raw materials that could make him kingpin. Meanwhile, Amar is confuused by the many versions of Karnan. Was he an alcoholic father grieving for his son , a womanizer, or more? More importantly, is he dead or alive?                           

                                                     Vikram works best in the first half when we see Amar and his team try to understand the killings and  track down the killers. Even though these parts have very little of Kamal Hasan, we always feel his presence, both as a character and as an actor. These are nods to Kamal's work, from Nayakan to Anbe Sivam, and her discovery  offers some small thrills.  Also, the actor, who's in action star mode here, gets a kick-ass movement leading into the break. And Vijay Sethupathi seems to pick up where he left off in master by playing a ruthless Villan..                                  But once  the easily- guessed mystery surrounding Karnan is unraveled, the narrative becomes fairly direct.  A small group of polics officers must hold their own againsts an army of gangsters.  It's   smiliar to what we got in Kaithi , but it's less effective here.                              To his credit, Lokesh tries to create an emotional undercurrent with a subplot involving Karnan and Parpanchan's baby, but it doesn't touch enough. also become predictable. Fahadh's Amar is more or less  written off while vijay Sethupathi tries too hard. Narain as Bejoy, the honest cop from Kaithi, is also neglected. Even Suriya's widely acclamimed came, which serves as the backdrop for the next installment in the Lokesh Kanagaraj universe, is a bit of a letdown.                                                                                                                                                                                               The action scencs, while solidly  choreographed , never leave us in a hurry. but n an action hero movie, the biggest movement of mass comes in a stunt scene invloving a female character (a maid/spy played by Vasanthi)  Vikram needed more moments like this to be truly memorable.