01-27-2019, 09:44 AM
This is Bollywood's most expensive film to date and stars my fav actor Aamir Khan and the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, plus the ever luscious Katrina Kaif. Wow. What a bombastic flop. Set under Brit colonial rule, Aamir does his take on Captain Jack Sparrow. Fatima Shaikh is the orphaned daughter of the assassinated royal family who was protected and raised by the old warrior, Amitabh, and they lead a rebel band of thugs. Aamir's character is names Firangi Sailor (firangi means foreigner which is a major comment). He's a donkey riding con man, shifting sides with every twist - is he good or evil? Meh, who cares? There are three major dance numbers: the first between Katrina and Aamir (in whiteface no less) allows Katrina to slink about and belly dance but it's too silly to enjoy. The second is a tribal rebel thing and shows that Amitabh still has moves in his mid 70s. The final is the dumb prelude to the revenge plot, which is so obvious, but massive in scale. They sing about how they are going to take revenge on the brit villain on the throne who somehow doesn't recognize the rebels even though he's seen them all up close. It's hideously choreographed but skil to the end to see the scope. I've posted that below.
There are many sword fights. Amitabh wears two swords crossed on his back all the time. There a lots of ship battles. The fight choreography is so drenched in slo-mo, cgi, wire work and absurd physics that it almost works because it's so damn Bollywood. There are lots of holding the sword backwards cuts, and most of the killing stabs are that age-old stage technique of thrusting to the blind side of the camera, There's stuff like flipping through the air to shoot four arrows with one bow snap to take out four musketeers, dueling on see-saw masts, and swinging Tarzan-like into battle from cables attached to nothing given the trajectory of their hero pose landings. It might be entertaining just to skip to those, but the lugubrious story was so cumbersome and predictable that it tainted my view.
Such a disappointment.
There are many sword fights. Amitabh wears two swords crossed on his back all the time. There a lots of ship battles. The fight choreography is so drenched in slo-mo, cgi, wire work and absurd physics that it almost works because it's so damn Bollywood. There are lots of holding the sword backwards cuts, and most of the killing stabs are that age-old stage technique of thrusting to the blind side of the camera, There's stuff like flipping through the air to shoot four arrows with one bow snap to take out four musketeers, dueling on see-saw masts, and swinging Tarzan-like into battle from cables attached to nothing given the trajectory of their hero pose landings. It might be entertaining just to skip to those, but the lugubrious story was so cumbersome and predictable that it tainted my view.
Such a disappointment.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse