Dhoom 2
Should I even be writing this review? This is the main question swirling I my head right now as I type this. Why, I ask myself, do I want to spend the next one hour trying to make sense of a movie which was almost entirely shot in slow-mo’, had no story and based itself on the fluctuating ‘oomph’ levels of its male and female protagonists.
I have a love-hate relationship with Bollywood. Most Bollywood movies are just predictably lousy, but every once in a while a good movie like Omkara comes along through which Bollywood manages to redeem itself for a short period of time. But then, Bollywood makes me weep when it throws something like Dhoom 2 at me. I watched Dhoom 2 a few days back and am still reeling from the shock (and have considered living life in slow mo’).
So what is Dhoom 2 about? Well, it is much hyped sequel to the original Dhoom.
Before watching Dhoom 2, I asked my friend Neha (who had already seen it) what I should expect. She simply said, “You’ll wish you could duct tape Aishwarya”. That said enough. I could probably end the review right here, since Aishwarya is the main sticking point in the movie and arguably the directors know she is a lousy actress. I say this because as soon as Ash appears on screen Bipasha Basu’s character gets virtually lobotomized and instead of the hot, sharp-shooting cop Bips morphs into the sharp-shooting cop’s stupid, bikini clad twin. So they HAD to make poor Bips look bad just to make Ms. Rai look good.
I am assessing Dhoom 2 based on my prior experience with Dhoom. I actually thought Dhoom was a pretty good movie. It was entertaining, wasn’t layered, had some nice bikes and Esha Deol had her standard 5 lines of dialogue. Uday Chopra played a maverick mechanic with a heart of gold who teams up with Abhishek Bachchan to hunt a motorcycle gang of thieves led by John Abraham. Chopra’s character was refreshing as the fast-talking, annoying sidekick reminiscent of the Donkey (Eddie Murphy) in Shrek. There is nothing more to say about the storyline as Dhoom simply had a lot of bike chases, one item number and lots of action. But somehow, and don’t ask me how, it worked. It was what we Indians call a fullto paisa vasool movie.
Dhoom 2 doesn’t work! Dhoom 2 has a slightly stronger storyline than the first movie. Hrithik is a professional thief and a master of disguise. He is also a fancy-dancing thief. This quick-footed, nimble fingered, sculpted man is hunted by Abhishek Bachchan, Chopra and Bips. Between the three of them they fail to capture Hrithik. So they send in the heavy artillery, which is a pretty little thing called Sunehri (Aishwarya Rai). Rai is a thief herself who has been recruited by Bachchan to help India’s finest. So she befriends Hrithik and becomes his partner. Together they plan to rob some ancient coins in Brazil and Bachchan must intercept them.
Hrithik mesmerizes Sunehri and as they share a long kiss which has since led to a couple of obscenity lawsuits, Sunehri realizes she must follow her heart and not the brooding Bachchan. Meanwhile, Bips is fooling around in a bikini with a surfboard tucked under her arm and Chopra is desperately trying to win her affection. Well, it is Brazil after all!
There is very little I can say about the movie except repeatedly stress that in word it is annoying. But I must praise Hrithik Roshan for I felt he was the only convincing character in the movie. And he looks great! I think Hrithik has carried the movie squarely on his shoulders. Even though two scantily clad ‘beauty queens’ prance provocatively around him, he steals the show from them completely. He is the only person you end up looking forward to in every scene.
What foxed me most was the fact that most of the movie seems to have been shot in slow motion. For an action movie this is just plain silly. The sense of suspended time may help heighten the ‘oomph’ value of the stars in the film but it does very little for the audience’s patience. Anyhow, I think the director overdid it by making his characters all seem suspended in time so often, the movie went nowhere.
The songs were just plain ridiculous. Ms. Rai’s song has lyrics like “Crazy Kiya Re”. Chopra’s song has the words “Excuse Me to Please” (huh????). They seem repetitive as do the costumes.
Comic relief in the film doesn’t really come from one-liners or Chopra and his muddling ways. It comes from the physics-defying stunts. For instance, Bachchan drives a jet-ski from UNDER the water to over it in one scene. In another scene, Hrithik gets thrown off a cliff at the edge of a small waterfall when he is punched by Bachchan. Then somehow he BOUNCES BACK UP.
All in all, there is very little depth to the movie and so I can’t really talk about its ‘essence’. There is none. The movie has no characters; it only has actors and a couple of lousy ones at that. You can watch it if you have really nothing else to do for some time.
My Rating – 1 NODDIE (and that too only because of Hrithik)
I have a love-hate relationship with Bollywood. Most Bollywood movies are just predictably lousy, but every once in a while a good movie like Omkara comes along through which Bollywood manages to redeem itself for a short period of time. But then, Bollywood makes me weep when it throws something like Dhoom 2 at me. I watched Dhoom 2 a few days back and am still reeling from the shock (and have considered living life in slow mo’).
So what is Dhoom 2 about? Well, it is much hyped sequel to the original Dhoom.
Before watching Dhoom 2, I asked my friend Neha (who had already seen it) what I should expect. She simply said, “You’ll wish you could duct tape Aishwarya”. That said enough. I could probably end the review right here, since Aishwarya is the main sticking point in the movie and arguably the directors know she is a lousy actress. I say this because as soon as Ash appears on screen Bipasha Basu’s character gets virtually lobotomized and instead of the hot, sharp-shooting cop Bips morphs into the sharp-shooting cop’s stupid, bikini clad twin. So they HAD to make poor Bips look bad just to make Ms. Rai look good.
I am assessing Dhoom 2 based on my prior experience with Dhoom. I actually thought Dhoom was a pretty good movie. It was entertaining, wasn’t layered, had some nice bikes and Esha Deol had her standard 5 lines of dialogue. Uday Chopra played a maverick mechanic with a heart of gold who teams up with Abhishek Bachchan to hunt a motorcycle gang of thieves led by John Abraham. Chopra’s character was refreshing as the fast-talking, annoying sidekick reminiscent of the Donkey (Eddie Murphy) in Shrek. There is nothing more to say about the storyline as Dhoom simply had a lot of bike chases, one item number and lots of action. But somehow, and don’t ask me how, it worked. It was what we Indians call a fullto paisa vasool movie.
Dhoom 2 doesn’t work! Dhoom 2 has a slightly stronger storyline than the first movie. Hrithik is a professional thief and a master of disguise. He is also a fancy-dancing thief. This quick-footed, nimble fingered, sculpted man is hunted by Abhishek Bachchan, Chopra and Bips. Between the three of them they fail to capture Hrithik. So they send in the heavy artillery, which is a pretty little thing called Sunehri (Aishwarya Rai). Rai is a thief herself who has been recruited by Bachchan to help India’s finest. So she befriends Hrithik and becomes his partner. Together they plan to rob some ancient coins in Brazil and Bachchan must intercept them.
Hrithik mesmerizes Sunehri and as they share a long kiss which has since led to a couple of obscenity lawsuits, Sunehri realizes she must follow her heart and not the brooding Bachchan. Meanwhile, Bips is fooling around in a bikini with a surfboard tucked under her arm and Chopra is desperately trying to win her affection. Well, it is Brazil after all!
There is very little I can say about the movie except repeatedly stress that in word it is annoying. But I must praise Hrithik Roshan for I felt he was the only convincing character in the movie. And he looks great! I think Hrithik has carried the movie squarely on his shoulders. Even though two scantily clad ‘beauty queens’ prance provocatively around him, he steals the show from them completely. He is the only person you end up looking forward to in every scene.
What foxed me most was the fact that most of the movie seems to have been shot in slow motion. For an action movie this is just plain silly. The sense of suspended time may help heighten the ‘oomph’ value of the stars in the film but it does very little for the audience’s patience. Anyhow, I think the director overdid it by making his characters all seem suspended in time so often, the movie went nowhere.
The songs were just plain ridiculous. Ms. Rai’s song has lyrics like “Crazy Kiya Re”. Chopra’s song has the words “Excuse Me to Please” (huh????). They seem repetitive as do the costumes.
Comic relief in the film doesn’t really come from one-liners or Chopra and his muddling ways. It comes from the physics-defying stunts. For instance, Bachchan drives a jet-ski from UNDER the water to over it in one scene. In another scene, Hrithik gets thrown off a cliff at the edge of a small waterfall when he is punched by Bachchan. Then somehow he BOUNCES BACK UP.
All in all, there is very little depth to the movie and so I can’t really talk about its ‘essence’. There is none. The movie has no characters; it only has actors and a couple of lousy ones at that. You can watch it if you have really nothing else to do for some time.
My Rating – 1 NODDIE (and that too only because of Hrithik)
posted by Vasundhara at 11:07 AM
1 Comments:
I haven't seen the movie - perhaps because I anticipated the warning/advice your friend gave you about Rai - but it sounds like [unintentional] fun! With Bollywood, you have to, HAVE to willingly suspend disbelief, i.e. men bouncing back from waterfalls and ice princesses (Aish) trying to act 'hot'. And I'll say this for Bollywood movies - they truly cheer you up on a bad day. My never-fail, feel-good Bollywood fix is 'Lucky: No time for love'. If you haven't done so already, rent it out. You will not be sorry. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home