Movie Review - Commando 2 by Suhel Johar

With No Great Stunts Sequences Or Acting Commando 2 Is A Tiring Film To Watch.

 

 

More often than not, the sequels have been less impressive than the original film. To name a few sequels of films, like Hera Pheri, Ghayal, Masti, House Full, Sarkar, just failed to invoke the same kind of interest in the audience as their originals did. The only two franchises that have worked so far are those of Golmaal and Dabangg. So really wonder what prompted the makers of Commando 2 to come up with a sequel of a film which was no great shakes in its original form.

The film marks the debut of comedian Deven Bhojani as a director. Interestingly, he had started his career as an assistant to director Mansoor Khan during the making of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander the same film that also launched his acting career.

Commando 2 traces a black money trail of Vicky (Vansh Bhardwaj), a powerful international money launderer, who has been arrested in Thailand along with his wife Maria (Esha Gupta). Home Minister Leela (Shefali Shah), whose son is embroiled with the launderer, assembles a compliant team to bring Vicky and Maria back to India.

Two corrupt cops Bakhtawar (Freddy Daruwala), a yes man and Bhawna Reddy (Adah Sharma), an encounter specialist are assigned to arrest Vicky. The idea is to protect Vicky’s clients, rather than prosecute him, and cover the trail by killing him when the job is done.

Karan (Vidyut Jammwal), the maverick Indian Army commando forcibly joins the team to ensure that justice is done. A major twist in tale comes when Vicky’s wife Maria (Esha Gupta) claims that she and Vicky are innocent. There’s double crossing, love affairs and a much bigger truth yet to unfold.

The plot is basic with typical elements and the only connection the film tries to have with current times, is play the demonetization card. The story is credited to Suresh Nair and the screenplay to Ritesh Shah but the film could well have been written by a low-level Finance Ministry official looking for a pat on the head and a promotion. Their efforts to make sense of and communicate a solution for the black money economy are even less proficient than the government’s authoritarian measure. The plot twists are dutifully contrived so that we can’t make out what we hate more – the incompetent acting or the shoddy screenplay. Besides the hackneyed script the film is loaded with ordinary dialogue and action sequences copied from Hollywood films.

Although there are no songs but the background score is harsh. Finally, Deven Bhojani has made some brilliant comedy shows on television but he fails miserably as a feature film director. His TV shows as a director include Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, Baa Bahoo Aur Baby, Sumit Sambhal Lega and on the basis of that one can say that maybe things would have been different had he chosen a comedy film as his directorial debut film. The best thing about the film is its length which is two hours.

Performance wise, Vidyut Jammwal looks more brawny than brainy. He does well in the action scenes but fails as an actor. Adah Sharma is annoying. Esha Gupta is as expressionless as she has always been. Freddy Daruwala has one single expression throughout the film. Suhail Nayyar and Thakur Anoop Singh pass muster. Brilliant actors that they are Adil Hussain and Shefali Shah have been wasted.

On the whole, one can say that it is a film that can easily be given a miss.