Beast: Forget Roar, this beast doesn’t make a woof!!

Official Trailer:

Beast has more misses than hits. For the starters, for the beast to roar, the villains need to be equally strong with character. Just saying the bad guys are Muslim terrorists is not going to cut it. This trope has been beaten to death and is getting to a point of causing nausea. For the money they spent to make the movie, can’t they spent some on writers to write a better villain? Veeraraghavan, character played by Vijay, has few bits of character – he can’t stand ill treatment of children, he is an ex-raw agent, and a person who can go in and out of enemy territory in fighter jets. And yes, he is a true Indian, and he doesn’t like politicians. There are bunch of others, Yogi Babu, Tom Chacko, Redin Kingsley, Pooja Hedge, and more, who have been wasted. Only VTV Ganesh and Selvaraghavan manage to salvage their roles with their one liners and timing. Nelson, the director, has the flair to extract comedy out of a serious situation. Those worked so well in Kolamavu Kokila (where few key characters were well developed too) and Doctor. To be fair, he does create those situations in Beast, but I think with Vijay being the star he isn’t sure which way to finish – go the Hot Shots way or the Security / Die Hard path.

Etharkum Thunindhavan: An assault on our senses

Official Trailer:

When our Kollywood directors will stop using a serious social issue as a vehicle to sell big stars? Here the issue is the sensational case of Pollachi videos. Nothing wrong in making a movie out of social issue but at the least do some research and spend some money on good writers to give a balanced and nuanced treatment of the issue. Is violence the only way to solve these problems – from farmers to industrial pollution to Pollachi videos? I do like action movies like Kill Bill, John Wick or Taken. They fall in the bucket of personal vendetta and/or imaginary universe and they are not out to solve a social problem. Keep the issues generic as in James Bond movies if the intent is to show action spectacle, blow-ups, and destruction. Making a mockery of the issue with no modicum of understanding is not only an assault on our senses, but it is also an assault on the dignity of the victims.