Movie Review: Arrambam

It is a mystery to me. How does an Ajith film always look good on trailer but end up as a movie which is badly edited, jumpy, with numerous build-ups to nothing? One thing for sure, all Ajith movies in the recent past have been consistent! Bad acting, style for nothing sprinkled generously with all the characteristics I mentioned before. Arrambam is no different. It is another rush job from Ajith's stable. I wonder the reason behind the rush. If you have been following the news, you already know this movie has taken a long while to make, just like any other Ajith movie. The movie also had a lot of location changes. Thankfully, the location changes is exciting for the viewer. But the excitement fizzes out when the location change doesn't translate to thrills or action.

Vishnuvardhan, who is teaming up yet again with Ajith, chooses a script which reminds you of Travolta-Jackman-Berry trio's Swordfish. Like the Hollywood movie, Ajith's AK is a bad guy who forces Arjun(Arya)  for his computer skills. In order to trap the latter, AK uses Maya(Nayantara) who is Arjun's college friend. Arya's girlfriend Anitha(Taapsee) also becomes a pawn in the game. Arjun is made to work different tasks like hacking into television networks and also hard disk drives of powerful money men. Having a quirky sense of righteousness, Arjun decides to break free from the clutches of AK with the help of upright police officer Prakash(Kishore). But AK is not what he seems to be. You may have already guessed it. The real villains are others. After a jumpy flashback, confrontation scenes with the villains and a few location changes, everything ends well. It ends well but not before leaving a trace of doubt in our minds of a possible sequel.

It is the director Vishnuvardhan who builds up the tempo for nothing. In Dubai, Ajith rides to a mansion on a Ducati. The Ducati builds up expectations in us after watching the wheeling in Mankatha. But it ends up as a scene where you see Ajith riding a Ducati. Period. There is a boat chase in Dubai. You see a whole lot of people riding boats. There is no action. Then there is a ridiculous Mexican standoff at the end. The lead pair, Ajith and Nayantara, looks tired throughout the movie. Ajith has the easier task. He is there for the style factor. Though he does look stylish, the character is not able to generate intrigue in the viewer. Nayantara is supposed to be the femme fatale but doesn't match up to Halle Berry. Then there is Arya and Tapsee as the second lead. Tapsee puts up a irritating show as a dumb girl. Luckily, Arya breathes a lot of life into a poorly written role and provides comic relief. The scenes where he is shown as large overfed college boy is funny because of his acting. He is able to make us forget the bad prosthetic. The villains have nothing much to offer and are lost in the crowd.

The picture perfect frames are the only good thing about the frame. The rest is forgettable! Enter at your risk.

Language: Tamil

Genre: Thriller

Rating: *

Tags: Movies,Ajith,Arya,Vishnuvardhan,Thriller

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