A new era of Tamil cinema has dawned. With Vikram as his first big step, four-film director Lokesh Kanagaraj opens the door to a new world of cinema that hints at great possibilities.
Before Lokesh, no filmmaker has been able to steer the conversation about delivering a true cinematic experience. Before Lokesh, the cinematic experience meant big ideas and needless flourishes to massage the star's manly crowd. I'm here. His writing and directing methods have a certain taste, visual flair and style.
He easily managed his cinematic experience with The Great Kaiti, a pure genre film with a wholesome Hollywood thriller flavor. Like drug speed. He gave us a taste of this new cinematic world in Master.On Vijay's star, I wrote in my review: "This delightful way of fusing two different films from two different eras." , which is theoretically attractive. And if Master is what Lokesh can do for Vijay's films, it's one smile when you think about what you can expect from him for his vahti in Vikram. What was once felt weak and forced in Vikram.
For an action thriller to work, it needs to be a well-oiled machine. Vikram is that machine. Right from the start, it's an exciting ride with a battalion of characters. As you may know, the script for the film came from Kamal's idea - the main character. The theme of the first half, which has many layers, is to find the leading role. As a writer and director, Lokesh does an excellent job of building the world and keeping the plot alive. The film leaves you confused at some point, trying to wrap your head around what's going on in its shocking and brazen opening sequence.
Vikram has an unusual opening. Definitely unusual for a Kamal Haasan film. It starts with the song "Pathala Pathala". This feels like an afterthought for its own sake. Aside from that oddly-placed song, the movie really picks up steam, and there's not a single wasted moment in the long, stretched first half.Lokesh must be as big a fan of Christopher Nolan as Scorsese.
Many of the scenes are reminiscent of Nolan's films. In fact, you get Tenet-like sequences and Bane-like narration here, with plenty of mention of masking and unmasking identities. The person responsible for this reveal is Amar, who leads the Black Squad's myriad teams. You have been assigned by the police department to investigate a series of high-profile murders at the police station that lead to a man named Santhanam.
Films about RAW agents and their victims have rightly become a subgenre. We've seen it thousands of times. Yet something about it draws us even further. In this case, Kamal recreates his quasi-Bond his character, Vikram. Vikram's tone and mood are very tense like Kaiti's. And like the latter, there are plenty of snazzy little character moments that will surprise you with cute surprises and scores.
In the second half, there is a scene that no one has seen. Of course, there are also flashbacks to old Tamil songs. My favorite is Saraswati Sabatham's song 'Kalviya Selvama Veerama' where Vijay Sethupathi raises his hand in a very derisive tone.
Vikram really comes to life after the adrenaline-pumping interval scene. Action is Lokesh's forte, with impressive stunts in the second half (stunts his directors are masters of Ambarib) and excellent camerawork by Jalikattu's Girish and his Gangadharan.
Nevertheless, something is missing. And that something brings us back to Kamal. I didn't know what to do with Kamal's character as Vikram, so I got a good look at Lokesh's battle - not enough beef to feed a lion. In this case, we have three good actors.
The problem with the script must have been: Amar must find the spirit to find Santhanam. But Vikram needed a reason stronger than just personal loss to burn all his guns. Even in older movies, Vikram was not a sentimental character. And Lokesh suffers again in a sentimental scene.
