January 1, 2012

Don 2: Entertaining, Gripping, Stylized, but too Hollywood-y

Don 2 is definitely entertaining and gripping thorughout most of its length.Interesting Storyline, Tight Direction Decent performances by all, Very Stylized treatment, International Standards in filming and very hollywood-ie treatment overall but the soul of the movie is not in the script/story but rather in just chasing hollywood and seeking acceptance internationally. Its just another Mission Impossible served for Indian audience.  A Definite Recommend if you are an SRK fan and don't watch a lot of hollywood action movies. Also, to see how quickly the gap is being bridged in the quality of filming and not to mention its very tight and gripping treatment throughout the most length to keep you engrossed and does not let you bore.

The plot revolves around Don wanting to steal Euro Printing Plates from a Bank in Berlin and in the process get Immunity from Various International police forces around the world for the acts done by him in the past. He ropes in his old arch rival Vardhaan (Boman Irani), A contract killer Jabbar and Ali (Kunal Kapoor). The rest of the plot revolves around 'how' he manages to do it and has its own share of twists and turns almost every 20 minutes, which keep you in your seat and provide you the 'Ab kya hoga' moments.

The best part about the movie is its overall look and feel. The cinematography is definitely International Standards and you don't get a feeling of watching a Bollywood movie. Well, almost if you ignore the same old Rahul/Raj SRK donning the Don Cap.The Action Sequences are also very neat and done in a very spectacular fashion. No complaints there either.

On the negative part, there are two things i can't ignore. One is a perennial SRK problem, He NEVER plays a character, It doesn't matter if he is Raj or Rahul or Don, he is still the same SRK playing himself. The arms wide open, the knee half bent romancing the female lead. I'm sure all of us want him to go back to his Darr, Baazigar days when he was not the ever-romancing Rahul and please stick with the character in the next if possible.

Secondly, the whole idea of the movie is to prove a point to hollywood, just like Ra.One. Hollywood is a billion years away from us in terms of quality of filmmaking, Scale and Originality. No matter how good a copy you make, it is still a copy. It would definitely be considered a spectacular movie in the Tier 2 cities. But for metros where audience (may) see more hollywood movies in an year than bollywood, it is just another hollywood action/thriller rip off. There is too much Mission Impossible in it in almost all sequences. On One hand it's good that the mainstream bollywood fan would be able to see the hollywood quality in a bollywood movie, but it takes away from the soul of indian film making. We should be telling stories rather than chasing something done already. But yeah, that's a macro point not related to this movie per se. So ignore it anyways.

Overall: A very Tightly treated and gripping narrative providing edge of the seat excitement (for bollywood standards) with very International look and feel, though has too much of  Chasing Hollywood. Recommended Surely (if you haven't already)

Feel-O-Meter: 7/10