Asuran - Revenge is a dish served best with Dhanush and Vetri Maran

The DiCaprio Scorsese combo of Tamil cinema are back for an on-screen depiction of a Tamil novel called 'Vekkai'. Those who are waiting for a sequel to Vada Chennai must keep waiting for now but until then, Asuran is another solid movie from Vetri Maran even though it can't be compared to Vada Chennai in some levels.

Asuran is just a typical revenge story with phenomenal cinematography, camera work, storytelling, and music. Dhanush has lived up to his usual potential giving us another award-worthy, gritty performance as Sivasamy, a farmer with some unusual talents.

The movie is quite predictable from start to finish except for a few scenes and has a very straightforward plot without any deviation from it. There's enough humor in it to keep us entertained and some edge of the seat moments occasionally and a lot of violence considering the fact that this rated PG-13, honestly I'd have been fine with an R rating with the violence and swearing cranked up because Vada Chennai had more freedom and the R rating could have definitely helped the plot, but I guess they needed to get the box office numbers this time.

Pasupathy has played a good part as well winning the hearts of the audience and so has Prakash Raj who has apparently come out of his long Cryo sleep because I can't remember the last time seeing him on screen. Amidst all this brilliant acting and technical work, the standout is really G.V. Prakash's background score, we're introduced to it right at the beginning and it plays a couple of times during certain fight scenes. This is a theme that is as good as the Kaththi theme composed by Anirudh and which fits in perfectly with the scenes. A few songs here and there as filler and a couple of amazing scores. If this were a cricket match that has been won due to a team effort with every player's contribution, the man of the match goes to G.V. Prakash.

Without his theme and background scores, I'm not sure how the movie would have been received and it reminds me a bit of Petta which was another movie with a mediocre plot and low re-watchability but with outstanding background music which just made us forget and forgive any kind of lazy writing and filler content, but fortunately Asuran has a slightly better plot and a great message delivered by Dhanush towards the end which just made me forgive the plotholes and the fight choreography which bent the laws of physics at times and by the end I also learned that a stab in your heart need not necessarily mean that you have to bleed to death. It really felt like Dhanush was Wolverine who could just heal from any kind of major physical trauma and hemorrhage instantly without any discomfort or medical attention.

So overall, the movie has some brilliant writing, very good humor, excellent cinematography, top-class acting, a very good message delivered and a phenomenal background score to support it all making this a very enjoyable revenge story despite the fact that they've done this in Kollywood about a hundred times. There's definitely something special when Dhanush and Vetri Maran pair up and I hope their dream run of making such classy movies continue.

Verdict:
8.5/10

Definitely looking forward to Vada Chennai 2, I hope the success of Asuran generates more hype and moves the sequel into production soon.

Joker - DC rising like a 'Phoenix' from the ashes

I'd be lying if I said Avengers Endgame was my most anticipated movie of the year. Being a DC fan, no matter how much I love what the MCU has done, a part of me always wants DC to do a better job and Joker was definitely my most anticipated movie of the year despite DC's track record in the past few years. 

EXPECTATIONS: To be honest, I was a bit let down by suicide squad not because of what Jared Leto did but because of the fact that we never saw what he actually did. I loved Jack Nicholson's take on the clown prince back in 1989 and Heath Ledger gave us a very fresh take which also earned him an Oscar, may he rest in peace. I never really cared about Joker when it was first announced because I was extremely disappointed by the fact that WB screwed up DC's best villain in every way possible in suicide squad, especially after Ledger's Oscar-winning performance. But when I got to know that it was Joaquin Phoenix who was going to be the deranged clown, I was excited to see what he would do because he's one of the best actors working today and he wouldn't take up any role that was thrown at him. The only thing I was concerned about was Todd Phillips, a fairly unfamiliar name especially for a movie that's as demanding as the origin story of one of the best fictional characters ever  and I was hoping for him not to screw this up because if that were the case we would never get to see something like this again and that would have been the end of Joker's legacy in the movies as we know.

ZERO WORLD BUILDING, LOW BUDGET, NO CGI:

Joaquin Phoenix has certainly lived up to our expectations giving us an Oscar-worthy performance in an era where popcorn flicks rule the comic book universe starting in a genre first of its kind that just screams character development in every single scene. This is a movie that has only a single perspective without any supporting characters which has Phoenix as the main focus in every scene.

Absolutely zero green screen use, low budget and it just purely leaned on Phoenix and his skills and boy did he deliver! There were very little easter eggs, no worldbuilding whatsoever because this is not a part of the current DC universe and from what I've heard a sequel is highly unlikely. There's definitely a lot in it for a DC, fan Thomas Wayne has a very important role and a couple more exciting stuff that was more than enough for a DC fan to scream at the top of their lungs.

NO ACE CHEMICALS OR NITROUS OXIDE: Excellent writing, eery soundtrack coming from the same music director who scored Chernobyl, set in the 1980s  during the time of the plague. Arthur Fleck aspires to be a stand up comedian, who lives with his senile mother beaten down by society. It's funny, there's no mention of Ace chemicals or Nitrous oxide, this time they decided to throw the joker into a more toxic, poisonous chemical known as 'society'. A few nods to the famous Killing Joke storyline and a small tribute to Heath Ledger towards the end. It's funny, as a member of the general audience I had to hope that he doesn't snap and the Joker fan in me kept hoping for him to snap. 

Overall, I wasn't let down because of the lack of comic accuracy or his not so comic accurate make-up. There's no humor in this, metaphorically this whole movie is one big joke that society plays on the brain-damaged, murdering psychopath Arthur Fleck who is the backbone of this R rated, first of its kind, character study of the Joker. This movie is not without its flaws but for now, nothing comes to mind because the ending was just pure gold and made me smile and put on a happy face.

This is not a popcorn flick, very difficult to re-watch and a must-watch for all the Joker fans of the world. I'm a fan of Mark Hamill, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, the Arkham games joker, the numerous comic book stories and the Gotham TV series joker and this one definitely deserves to be one of the best takes on the deranged clown. I heard that the weight loss took a toll on Joaquin's health, I hope he recovers as soon as possible. Regarding whether or not he deserves an Oscar, I don't think you need an Oscar to really brand an artist on how good they are if that were the case, Christopher Nolan, Will Smith, and Robert Downey Jr. would have a bunch of them. Nevertheless, I do hope he gets nominated.

STUPID CONTROVERSY: There's been a lot of concern expressed by some people saying that this might provoke people into using guns which sounds really stupid. If that were the case, I wonder why those John Wick, Kingsman and almost the past decade full of video games did so well. At the worst, this movie might make you laugh a lot towards the ending just like how people were warned that after watching happy feet, they may start dancing a lot. I hope these controversies don't affect the movie much because I really want it to do well. Good results may help future DC projects like Lobo and Black Adam.

LESSONS LEARNT: I was wrong in saying that WB doesn't know how to use the DC villains after witnessing that performance from Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor and the wasted opportunity to make Jared Leto the main villain in suicide squad. They just need to find the right directors and excellent writers that these characters demand. Well done Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix and the rest of the cast for giving us something so fresh, not everything has to be a part of a universe and lead to bigger battles, maybe that's the reason the film turned out so well because it was under no such extra pressure. Maybe WB can learn from this and focus on making now movies like this because we've had enough popcorn flicks and team-ups and it's not always about the box office money, it's about sending a message.

VERDICT:

Fan in me: 9.5/10
Critic in me: 9/10

After witnessing 23 Marvel movies and DCEU's desperate attempt to keep up with the MCU and it's constant but pointless protest that 'They're different than Marvel', Joker was a bit of fresh air that I needed and all the comic book fans in the world deserve. Maybe the writing in this movie was as good as I think it is or maybe game of thrones season 8 lowered the bar because anything other than 'I don't want it' and 'She's my queen' made me want to applaud the writers.