A black operations cop goes after a mystery gang of masked men after a string of police officers are killed because they are defending a ruthless drug lord and have declared war on the establishment.
Review of Vikram Vikram, a predictably plotted action movie that is more interested in expanding its universe without really engrossing us in it, is the result of Lokesh Kanagaraj combining the espionage-filled world of Kamal Haasan's 1986 film Vikram and his own 2019 film Kaithi's action-filled world of drug lords and cops. It has parts of the thrills of an action movie and the riddles of a spy movie, but it doesn't feel completely satisfying or give us the rush that a movie with such high stakes should.

hen Karnan (Kamal Haasan), the father of a slain police officer named Prapanchan (Kalidas Jayaram), is assassinated, the movie does get off to an exciting start. We discover that there have been several such murders, with a disguised group of men claiming responsibility and referring to it as their battle against the establishment. Amar (Fahadh Faasil), the leader of the black ops squad brought in by police chief Jose (Chemban Vinod Jose), begins investigating Karnan's life. Sandhanam (Vijay Sethupathi), a ruthless drug lord with a sizable family who is looking for a cargo of raw materials that could elevate him to a kingpin, is the prime suspect. Amar is perplexed by Karnan's various incarnations in the meantime. He was a father grieving the loss of his kid, but was he an alcoholic?

The early half of Vikram, in which we witness Amar and his team attempting to make sense of the murders and find the killers, is where Vikram excels. Kamal Haasan doesn't appear much in these parts, yet we can still feel his presence—both as a character and as an actor. From Nayakan to Anbe Sivam, there are references to Kamal's work, and spotting them can be mildly exciting. The actor, who is currently in action-star mode, also has a moment that is worth whistling, which brings us to the intermission. And Vijay Sethupathi, who is portraying a merciless villain, appears to be continuing where he left off in Master.

But after the obvious mystery around Karnan is solved, the story takes a more straightforward tone. A tiny group of police officers should be able to hold off a gangland army. It's comparable to what we had in Kaithi, although it works less well here.

Release date: 3 June 2022 (India)

Director: Lokesh Kanagaraj

Art director: Satheesh Kumar

Cinematography: Girish Gangadharan

Distributed by: Red Giant Movies

Costume design: Pallavi Singh, V. Sai, Kavitha