2.0 has been one of the most hyped movies ever to hit the screens and for plenty of reasons. It is a sequel to 2010's Endhiran which remains as one of the best blockbusters till date. Both superstar and Shankar have failed to live up to their reputation these past few years so in a way this is a vital movie for both of them. Can't say Shankar delivered but Rajini finally does it here.
The movie is set in 2018 with Rajini reprising his role as Dr. Vasikaran and as Chitti, Amy Jackson as Nila and Akshay Kumar as Pakshiraj. As known faces go, that's about it. This is one of my complaints regarding the movie in that it failed to call back Santhanam, Karunas and Aishwarya Rai. Its important for a sequel to let us know how connected they are to their predecessors and this movie fails to do so. This universe doesn't feel like the one in which Endhiran's events took place at all and that's a huge gripe.
As far as nostalgia goes, very little is used to hit us. We get a few familiar soundtracks, a couple of callbacks through dialogue and that's about it. I get that the movie tries its best to be original but the nostalgia card could have been played a bit more is what I felt.
Coming to the movie itself now, it has probably the most boring first half I've ever seen and I was really annoyed during the interval. Maybe some leeway can be given saying its all for build up but I found myself trying too hard to stop myself from falling asleep. It felt like they were trying to sell the movie purely by claiming that this has amazing CGI and a huge budget but without any kind of story. I felt cheated at the end of the first half and a little heartbroken seeing Rajini go through this dry phase. The plot was messy, the writing was weak and the pacing was horrible, I wanted it to just get over soon.
Then out of nowhere came a very structured, coherent, plot heavy and visually spectacular 2nd half. Pakshirajan's backstory had an extremely powerful message and had me invested in the movie again. Then came Thalaivar's 2.0, the Chitti we all came for. Superstar was back with the same charisma as he had in Endhiran giving us an amazing performance as 2.0 ready to take on Pakshirajan. The CGI got much better and polished in the second half. Even the comedy got way better, mostly coming from superstar and he single-handedly made things from boring and depressing to awesome and action-packed. The Climax was another amazing setpiece with fantastic CGI as well. There was another pleasant surprise towards the end teasing us a glimpse of what the next movie could be all about.
The story actually starts only in the second half and I was reminded of having to put up with 5 boring episodes of Game of Thrones then being rewarded with 2 amazing episodes. The comedy was really bad and the puns reminded me of the ones made by Mr. Freeze in that godawful Batman and Robin movie. I really missed Santhanam and Karunas and the casting could have easily been ten times better. Another disappointment was the music. Endhiran's songs and background scores were all so majestic and this feels like such a huge step down for Rahman. I'm not complaining that there should have been songs in the movie, in fact, I was shocked to see a Shankar movie without songs and happy that they decided to use the budget for CGI and not waste it on songs. Background scores could have been better and this totally doesn't feel like an ARR musical.
Overall, 2.0 fails to live up to the legacy of Endhiran, its another case of sequelitis but the second half is really what you're here for. Rajini's performance makes you forget its flaws and enjoy the movie for what it is. It does a terrible job at world building, suffers from poor writing but Pakshirajan's backstory, the social message and superstar's performance are a few things which are more than enough to make you want to watch it again in theatres. The social message is something we all should think about and make conscious attempts at eradicating the issue rather than talking about it over coffee. It hit me really hard and I guess that was the whole point of this movie and I give it full marks for that.
As a Tamilian and a movie buff, I'm proud to see our movie makers give so much importance to villains and make us take their side at times. Every great movie is remembered because of its villains and though 2.0 may not qualify as a great one, it did perfect justice to its villain and Akshay Kumar has done beautifully as Pakshirajan, a performance that will be remembered for ages to come. Villains starting to make sense almost makes us forget the fact that ultimately they're a villain and embrace the fact that they're human too. Thani Oruvan did that, Vikram Vedha did it and this one almost joins the club of great villains too.
VERDICT:
Fan in me: 7.5/10
Critic in me: 7/10
Another thing which surprised me was the fact that this movie had a post credit scene. Gone are the days where Marvel movies were the only ones that made you sit through credits, we're getting there very soon.
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