139. Agilan; movie review

 

AGILAN

Cert 12A

129 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, injury detail, drug references, threat, language

What a giant mess of a movie. I scratched my head so many times during two and a quarter hours, I barely have a hair left.

And even looking back, I have no idea what director and writer N. Kalyanakrishnan was trying to achieve.

The questions begin with the title character, played by Jayam Ravi. Is he a hero, anti-hero or just a plain villain? Should we have been rooting for him and, if so, why?

The setting of Agiulan is interesting - a huge harbour in which corruption is rife and backhanders and brute force rule. But, beyond that, the film is barely comprehensible.

Agilan is introduced as the harbour enforcer, called in when necessary by a criminal fixer (Hareesh Peradi) who does the dirty work of the harbour's overlord (Tarun Arora ).

However, neither can control him as he goes renegade, killing and maiming anyone in his way.

The central problem is that his motivation is unclear. For much of the movie, it seems he just enjoys the slaying and then there is a sudden hint that he might have a more charitable aim.

Meanwhile, the violence just goes on and on and on. During these badly choreographed fight scenes, he regularly beats up multiple enemies and survives being stabbed and shot endless times without any obvious ill effect.

There is also a really strange love interest in the shape of a police inspector (Priya Bhavani Shankar) who I can't work out is corrupt or on the side of good.

And then there is the only blemish-free fella on the scene - another cop (Chirag Jani) who has a reputation for shooting first and asking questions later.

That is about it apart from lots of loud menacing music and two hours of people shouting at each other (are all Indian folk deaf?).

It was not a good use of my time.

Reasons to watch: Lots of brutal action

Reasons to avoid: Difficult to understand what is going on

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 3/10

Did you know? With the support of the Government of India, the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network - a global business network of over 110 companies - is working to tackle corruption in the maritime industry

The final word. Jayam Ravi: "The harbour is more than just a premise in Agilan. It is a character by itself. There are many untold stories about the harbour and Agilan is a compilation of all." Cinema Express

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