Capsule (Re)views

Here are short, capsule reviews of some non-Tamil movies i have watched in the last couple of weeks...

Vaada - Starring Arjun Rampal, Zayed Khan and Amisha Patel, this is a remake of the Parthiban-starrer Sabaash. It revolves around a blind man(Arjun) coming to terms with his wife(Amisha) committing suicide. But as the investigation proceeds, it increasingly begins to look like the husband's close friend(Zayed) may have had something to do with the wife's death. The Tamil original played to Parthiban's image and this resulted in the movie more resembling a comedy in many places. But Vaada corrects this and keeps the proceedings serious throughout. So it ends up being a better thriller. But I liked the Tamil version's ending better though.

Insaan - A good cast is wasted in this dud. It reminds us of the simplistic but loud action movies of the 80s with its story of a cop(Devgan) who becomes friends with a pious Muslim(Akshay) with neither aware that the brother of the Muslim is a terrorist who had earlier killed the cop's girlfriend. The story is full of holes and character development is nil. Subtlety is completely absent in the treatment of Hindu-Muslim relations and the action sequences are low-key and poorly staged. The only bright spot is Akshay Kumar, who turns in a very good comedic performance.

Bridget Jones Diary 2 - I have always liked British romantic comedies more than the ones from Hollywood because of their focus on comedy rather romance, adult relationships and sharp script. I loved the first Bridget Jones movie but this sequel seems completely unnecessary since it treads exactly the same ground as the first with Renee Zelwegger once again ping-ponging between the mature but stiff Colin Firth and the charming but womanising Hugh Grant. Many of the scenes give us a feeling of deja vu and the sequences where Renee is stuck in a Thai prison point to the complete lack of ideas on the director's part to fill up the 1 hr 45 minutes. This diary is not worth reading.

Flight of the Phoenix - Poorly developed characters who are mostly indistinguishable from one other, a laughably cliched script and an inconsistent, disjoint screenplay mark this wannabe epic about a group of people crashlanding in a desert and building a plane to fly out. A well-picturised crashlanding in the desert starts the movie off well but its a steep nosedive from there. Predictable crises create obstacles at regular intervals but none of them raise any tension. Don't board this flight.

Ladder 49 - Action and sentiments are blended nicely in this movie about the happenings at a fire station in Baltimore. Presented as a flashback of Joaquin Phoenix as he is trapped in a burning building, it starts off with his initiation at the station and then traverses his marriage, his heroic acts and the loss of more than one buddy in the line of duty. The scenes between him and his family are natural and help us identify with them. The close bond between the firemen is also brought out nicely in both serious and lighter moments and the action scenes are staged without any obvious special effects wizardry. Worth a watch.