The 2022 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film Vikram is now out in theaters, but should you be watching it? Check out my Vikram (2022) Movie Review!
Vikram (2022) Movie Review
Amar is assigned to investigate a case of serial killings. When he approaches the case, he realizes it is not what it seems to be, and following down this path will lead to nothing but war between everyone involved.
Now, I’m curious about how this is being received by Indian audiences because I was literally the only person in my showing. I mean, I’m not sure if that’s just a reflection on its popularity or if it just happened to be an off time, but as an American watching this, I had a ton of fun.
We follow Amar, who was called in by the local police to investigate a string of murders. Now, Amar is part of a black Ops type group and they operate outside the rules and the law. And, this gives them incredible leeway in how they conduct their investigations.
As he and his team work the investigation, they focus on finding out why a particular guy named Karnan was killed. Now he’s older, shown to be a drunk, and seemingly like a random target within a series of other killings that do appear to be connected.
This is filled with some awesome action with a lot of brutality and violence shown. And most of the time the fights and battles are shown without a bunch of quick cutaways, creating a huge level of excitement within the scenes.
The fight choreography is executed well and when that is combined with some unique camera movements, a lot of the battles, they become immersive.
There are multiple scenes where the camera will push in and then pull out as characters attack an individual.
So say, like, we’re going to have a main character battling just a group of people. And as they approach for their attack, the camera also pushes in, but then It will spin around to show us other angles most of the time without cutting.
And this creates some very engaging continuous scenes which only work to amp up the excitement even more. And the action is varied to keep the intrigue at its peak.
We get a lot of hand to hand battles, sometimes in close quarters, but there are also some crazy gunfights and some scenes that feature huge melee where the carnage just gets massive.
There is also very minimal use of slow motion, which I appreciate because it keeps the momentum pulsing forward and there are many sequences where brutality reigns.
We’re talking machetes and knives and even wire cutter pliers. It’s incredibly gory, but the camera doesn’t shy away from the violence.
There are also times where a small bit of disbelief does need to be suspended because bodies will fly through the air after a punch or a kick. But even with that, I found it to be more exciting.
I wasn’t really looking for straight reality. I wanted escapism in the action, that’s what we get, but it’s also not highly unrealistic, it’s just a little exaggerated, so it is a lot of fun. And this isn’t all action all the time, but there is a ton of it.
Now I liken this to the Expendables to a small degree where we have these massive battles with tons of destruction and chaos. I mean like explosions, shootouts, night fights, and good old punching matches.
Now surprisingly, there’s really only one music video-type scene and it’s right toward the very beginning of the film.
While it was a bit comical and odd, once we get the context for how it’s actually playing out, it makes total sense. There are songs also that play throughout the story, but they’re used to carry the narrative forward and they’re presented as soundtrack and not via the actors singing.
There’s also a good deal of emotional investment that comes within the story as well. I mean, the characters are crafted in a way that is captivating with progressions that build as the story goes along.
And their backgrounds are revealed to us a little at a time to maintain suspense, but we’re still given enough on them to be connected and feel concerned for their outcomes.
And there are some gut-punch moments as well where I was a bit surprised and then heartbroken at some of the results, but I count that as a huge positive too because the story was able to hook me in so effectively.
This is a longer film at just under 3 hours. Now my showing included an intermission which added another ten minutes or so to the experience, but honestly I was bummed at the intermission because it broke the momentum of the story.
Now it came right after a huge. Climax, so it was a good placement for that, but I would have much preferred to have the story played straight through without the interruption.
Because of the amount of violence shown, there are some times where special effects are utilized because they just have to be and the practical effects are awesome, but the generated ones are just a little bit less so.
They were very obvious in the fact that they were CGI, but luckily these were used sparingly and the majority of the time we get the practical effects.
Now I think there are a few sequences that are a little more difficult to follow than the rest of the story and most of this is straightforward. And it plays out in a linear fashion, but there are a few times where we pop into a flashback and It’s not always clear exactly where it was in the timeline.
Now I was still able to figure out what was going on and I think some of it just may be a result of having to read the subtitles which then took my eyes off the rest of the screen for just a brief moment.
And speaking of subtitles, there are some translations that are very funny because it is quite clear what the character says. And the subtitles they just don’t match.
Now there are a few times where the sub say shocks and it is definitely not what the character said. And even though I don’t speak Tamil which is the version that I saw the word the character used was in English and it was unmistakable.
Now I thought the pacing was carried out really well keeping the momentum up and the excitement level consistent but it still allowed the quieter moments to play out which helped to grow the emotional attachment.
So overall Vikram is an exciting action thriller that combines intense fight sequences and wonderful choreography with palpable and relatable emotional angles. Despite some of the computer-generated effects not being wonderful, the practical effects were awesome.
The acting is engaging with characters I became concerned for and the story is simple enough to follow for the most part but includes complexities and complications to make it interesting for the whole three-hour runtime.
I think this is a very accessible Indian film especially for American audiences because of the excitement, characters emotionality, the escapism, and the spectacular action.
There’s no sex or nudity but there is some profanity and a ton of violence.
I am going to give Vikram movie 4/5.
So what have you seen recently in the theater? I’d love to hear about what you’re watching in the comments below.
Guys thank you so much for reading Vikram (2022) Movie Review. See you next time.
