The actor Dhanush has come a long way. While his early years in movies portrayed him as the poster child for a lost and reckless youth who even his family finds dangerous, in the last ten years he has been allowed to fully explore his creative side and develop a body of work that demonstrates the talent powerhouse that he is. Metaphorically speaking, it is also his character arc in Arun Matheswaran's Captain Miller, which is the tale of a small-town person who dreams of enlisting in the pre-independence British military but discovers that the weapon he must use must point at his people.

Arun Matheswaran is the director of Captain Miller (Tamil).
Cast: Nivedhithaa Sathish, Sundeep Kishan, Priyanka Arul Mohan, Shiva Rajkumar, and Dhanush
Duration: 158 minutes
Storyline: To preserve his people's life, a soldier becomes a revolutionary, among other things

In keeping with his other works, Arun employs a non-linear narrative that is divided into chapters, which is a brilliant technique. It almost hides the otherwise simple tale of a rebel, exchanging complexity for moments of theater that are both convenient and satisfying. Even while Captain Miller's plot is more complex and has intriguing underlying ideas and lore mixed in with a dash of actual events, it is still somewhat predictable. The film's most intriguing aspect is the tale of a hidden secret, which we find to be a MacGuffin and a sacred relic of a discriminatory past for Miller's people, amidst the blazing guns, charred bodies, splattered blood, and the one-man army wreaking havoc. We wish this story had been explored more.

In the hands of a less experienced actor, this part could have easily become one-dimensional, but Dhanush uses it as an opportunity to show off his acting skills, and he does it brilliantly. Dhanush masterfully portrays every aspect of Analeesan's metamorphosis as he moves up the ranks from a broken-hearted child to a disheartened trooper, and from a notorious bandit to a revolutionary. Captain Miller has one of the greatest actor ensembles we have seen in a while when you combine it with a terrific supporting cast that includes Priyanka Arul Mohan, Sundeep Kishan, Elango Kumaravel, and Nivedhithaa Sathish, along with Shiva Rajkumar, who exudes the same "mass" he did with Jailer. As the movie goes on, the amazing way the female characters are portrayed becomes more and more evident. 

Rocky and Saani Kaayidham, the director of Arun Matheswaran's first two films, may appear to be wonderfully violent revenge pictures. Still, both films challenge the established hierarchy, with the latter not holding back in its depiction of caste inequality. Ironically, Captain Miller is Arun's least violent picture despite its intense violence, yet even if action speaks louder than words, the film's underlying message is more apparent.