The much-awaited Vijay starrer 'Beast', directed by Nelson Dilipkumar was bound to create ripples among fans, and indeed the movie was full of 'blasts,' slow-motions and punch dialogues for them.
As revealed by the trailer, the plot is about hostages in a mall that has been under the control of terrorists. Vijay’s character, Veera Raghavan, a RAW agent, is inside the mall and takes it upon himself to fight the terrorists and free the hostages.
As promised in the promo the movie is 'meaner' and Vijay is stronger than ever.
What happens when there is a combination of 'Rambo' and 'James Bond' with some Vijay's Tamil swag inside a Money Heist-like hostage situation. Yes, that is what you see in 'Beast'.
Entering a terrorist hideout in Pakistan and capturing their leader single-handedly is a cakewalk for Veera Raghavan. He scurries all around blasting away the challenges as a one-man-army, whether it is in Pakistan or inside a mall in India.
Amid all the fumes, blood and actions, Vijay, who in the past had to face the consequences of his political statements, ensures that more of them are present in this film. Towards the end, it may seem like he is cosying up to the Prime Minister, but it soon turns out that he is mocking them.
In one of the scenes, while talking to terrorists in Tamil, Vijay says "everything cannot be translated in Hindi. If you want, you learn Tamil." This at a time when South India is marking a protest against Amit Shah's recent fillip to promote Hindi seems apt.
Though 'Beast' is abundantly packed with pulsating action scenes, the story, as well as the stunts, are not very convincing.
Pooja Hegde and the love between the two leads happens rather quickly and it seems the director didn't want to waste much time on romance. Instead, he allots it to the slow motions and stylish stunts of Vijay which would draw applause from the fans.
Anirudh Ravichander's music, especially the song 'Arabic Kuthu' that featured hilarious dance moves of Vijay and Pooja Hegde was a big hit before the release and was well received by the fans who danced fervently to it in theatres. Shine Tom Chacko registers a surprise presence in the movie as a soft-hearted terrorist and his growing popularity among Kerala audience as an endearing artist was quite evident from the huge applause he received when he appeared on the screen.
Manoj Paramahamsa's camera captures the drama and lends power to the action scenes. To conclude, 'Beast' is quintessentially a mass thriller for the fans and logic of all sorts should be kept aside to enjoy it.