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2.0 (2018)

This is a non-spoiler review of 2.0, a 2018 film starring Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson in pivotal roles.
VFX in Indian Cinema has evolved a long way up. Starting from Ra.one, which met with universal acclaim for its special effects, to 2.0, which has shown that VFX in Indian cinema is no more thrashy or sloppy. This film was announced on a budget of 450 crores(which subsequently increased more), and this thing drew a lot of attention. Everyone was excited for the film, and it looks like the wait of almost 3 years was worth of something. It is a sequel of 2010 film Enthiran, although there's nothing in common between both the movie, apart from Rajnikanth and a bit of the story.
Now let's get on the film.
Plotline:
It continues from the point where Enthiran left, with Chitti, the robot dismantled and has moved on. Dr. Vaseegaran, the scientist who made Chitti, has made another robot, Nila(Amy Jackson), just for assistive work. All is going well until a threat bloomes over the state, with all the cellphones being vanished and a giant, monstrous bird flying over the city and attacking its people. How Chitti and Vaseegaran deal with it, and why the bird is attacking everyone , forms the rest of the story.
There's a very good social message dealt in the film, which can be connected universally. It also provides a good conformity to Kumar's character in the film, and you can completely symphatize with his actions.
I think his character was being considered as the main in the film by the writers. They have paid much attention to his character. The plot has been kept very simple, with not much of science involved with it, so that people can understand and relate to it. There's a bit of humour in between to ease the moment, as the script has been kept very tight and it does not sways away from the main plot as there's no melodrama, romance or songs in between. It catches up to the plot and stays right on the track until the last minute. That's a major advantage of dealing with a film on an international level.
Acting:
All the cast has done a great job, with special praises to Rajni Sir and Akshay Kumar.True to say but, Akshay Kumar might have outshined every other antagonist of Indian Cinema. He beautifully displays each and every emotion of his character, and you will feel that he doesn't have any motive of ruling or destroying the world without any reason or just to show his valour. He has a reason to do so(which I will not talk about here as it's a non-spoiler review), and the emotional flashback shown reveals the reason.
His dedication is praiseworthy. The hours he spent on the makeup might have irritated anyone. But the patience bears a sweet fruit. He got a strong foot in Tamil cinema with his role.
Rajni Sir is as ever fantastic. He has nailed all his roles in this film. It doesn't look that he is over 60 years of age. As Vaseegaran, Chitti, 2.0 and a special charatcer( not to talk about here), he is delightful to watch. Hats off to his dedication and style.
Amy Jackson as Nila is also good. She has been there in the script just for easing the moment and providing some humour. Her supporting role to Vaseegaran is good.
Rest of the cast has done a decent job.
Technical Aspects:
Visual Effects are jaw-dropping and a landmark of Indian Cinema. All the wait of 3 years has turned out to be a visual spectacle. The money invested over this film has proved to be a good investment. Sound Editing is also good. The modulation in Akshay KUmar's voice is good to hear. All the fight scenes are a visual treat. The climax, according to me, is the heart and soul of the visual aspect of the film.
Direction, Screenplay & Music:
Shankar is the gem of Indian cinema. He chose a social topic and made a whole film on it. No flaws in his direction. His visualization is hard to match and find. All his hard work and dedication is clearly evident in the film. His tight and gripping screenplay is the soul of the film. It always stays on the plot. Although he could have added more humour and shelved off some. But still, he did a great job. It's good to see that Indian Cinema is not around the corner for those melodramas with all dance and ssongs in every 15-20 mins. Shankar has touched the hollywood level.
Since there are no songs in the movie , apart from the one in the end credits, so the thing left is Background Score. Rahman has given good score, which fits the scene , but I feel that it won't be enough to give goosebumps. It could have been better, but it was good.
Verdict:
You can thoroughly enjoy this visual flick to the fullest. And to the more only in 3D. Kumar and Rajni will always be around the corner to impress you, and the visual effects will leave you awestruck.
My Rating:9.5/10
Plot:9/10
Acting:10/10
Direction:9/10
Visual Effects:10/10
Music:8/10
#bestOfTamil #quotable #actionPacked #entertaining #visuallyStunning #stylish

2.0 was promised as a semi sequel to 2010’s Endhiran (Robot). It’s good to see that it’s not just a spiritual sequel as it was marketed as but a direct and proper sequel. It just discards Robot’s very last scene set in 2030.
2.0’s plot line / premise is totally irrelevant to its real genius. The film is a technical marvel right from the very first scene with copious use of 3D to make the audience feel like the film is projecting somewhere between the screen and the viewer’s eyes.

The main character in this film is of course Chitti the Robot. He is treated like a superhero here. His entry is matter of fact and now he can pretty much do anything with the only real challenge to Chitti being the rapid way his battery seems to keep discharging. Infact Chitti has no emotional challenges in the film at all. He doesn’t have to give up anything major or improve himself in anyway. His 2.0 avatar (the films title character) is just him with the red chip from the last film. The films plot and message is lost in Chitti 2.0's robot antics.

Direction :
The film is made by S.Shankar, one of India’s most innovative filmmakers. This time around, he has kept the film very tight and has not used any of the typical south overacting, humor or songs. In fact this is the most NON masala film Shankar has ever made. This is all in the pursuit of making this film truly international in look and feel.
Having said that, the film is a bit one note and the intensity doesn’t jump up or down, its evenly quite intense throughout. This lack of highs and lows can be an issue with the audience who wants to see a complete entertainer. SS Rajamouli avoided this same issue in 2012’s Eega (Makkhi).

Acting :
With time Rajnikanth is getting more and more tepid in his acting. This film had a lot more for his scientist character to do, who is an intellectual and doesn’t have any of the typical Rajni traits. That’s not to say his acting is bad, its just gotten a lot more sober and serious. Even the 2.0 chitti who is almost a villain character refrains from truly going overboard. He is always at the edge of madness and never crosses it.

Akshay Kumar is really good in this film. He totally does justice to his casting in the film and in his backstory he plays an ornithologist (someone working on birds) modelled on india’s most well known person in this profession ‘Salim ali’ who is a Padma bhusan winner. His acting both as an ornithologist and as a villain is on point. He is menacing as the birdman character and sympathetic in his backstory. He keeps up with Rajni Sir’s acting and performance so that the clash is between equals.

Amy Jackson’s turn as a humanoid Robot is perfect casting. Amy’s acting is extremely wooden normally, so now that she is playing a robot, she seems adequately robotic. Her character has in place asimov’s 3 laws and therefore she is not a killer robot like Chitti. So she has a supporting role of protecting Rajni’s scientist character and at times even Chitti. So she isn’t there just for eye candy. But speaking of eye candy, Amy looks really good running around in a form fitted robot suit.

This brings us to the sets and art design.

Art Design :
The suits and costumes used in the film work great and do not look cheap at the least. Chitti’s normal look and his 2.0 look both work well and seem high tech and robotic enough. The art direction is top notch and nothing in the film looks less than any international film. Akshay’s different looks and his prosthetics are thoroughly convincing and work well purely on a technical level. Amy’s Neela as mentioned earlier looks cute in her robot avatar and is a welcome visual contrast in the mostly male dominated cast.

The labs, sets etc all look very good. A lot of the budget has gone into getting the look right for this film.

Lastly we come to the most talked about and innovative thing about this film.

The visual FX :
People on youtube and twitter have both appreciated and made fun of the VFX of this film. Some have said it looks worse than a ps2 video game. This is not true at all. I felt that in 3d the VFX of the film looked very good. There are numerous scenes which have 1000s of cell phones doing impossible things and its animated so well. I have not seen such an idea or execution of such proportions in a Indian or International film till date. The villain is made up of cell phones and that god damn difficult to achieve. Every part of him is an individual mobile phone. The phone is rigid and cannot bend, so I can imagine how difficult animating this must have been.

The VFX is really top notch as far as the budget is concerned.
Shankar has an habit of these huge set piece songs in all his films, such as Indian, Nayak, Aparichit, Sivaji and Robot. But this time he refrains from songs in the film at all. the only song in the film is at the very end. I guess this makes the film more tight, less masala and more international. the only song Tu Hi re plays over the end credits.

Now we come to the negatives of the film.
As mentioned before, the film is very one note and all emotional parts have been excised in pursuit of technical achievement. Which is fine, but it doesn’t give the right stakes to things. The villain’s point of view is explained but then made fun of in the end by Chitti 2.0. Therefore, despite this film being technically an achievement not just in Indian cinema, but world cinema, the emotional overtones are missing. Making this a less complete film than its 2010 predecessor. Personally, I still prefer the original over this sequel. Which is not to say that this film is not good.

Rating :
This movie could have been a nine for me, but it messes up some key moments. So for Rajni sir's and akshay's acting, the action and awesome vfx and innovative ideas, this movie is an easy 7.5/10 for me.

First of all, let me clear one thing that I am not anyone's diehard fan here from this film. I am a diehard fan of an entertaining film, irrespective of its cast, language and country. Though, being an Indian, I feel connected with Indian movies more. So, when I came to know about the biggest project of Indian Cinema, which is 2.0, I got excited. I even went to watch the teaser of it in nearest PVR Cinemas just because it's in 3D. I was not very happy after seeing the teaser. It didn't look like a 500cr+ movie at all. Then I saw its trailer. It had wonderful background score by A.R. Rahman, but the freshness or you can say the feeling was missing in visuals. Many were laughing at 2.0 that it'll going to be an another bad experience just like Thugs. Having all of these in my mind, I went to watch it Today.

Believe me, my ticket price got redeemed in the very first minute of the film. Yes, you read it right. Before even any scene, my money got redeemed. How! It's just that the titles have wonderful 3D effects which no one has ever seen it in any movie. If you can watch it in 4DX, please go for it. Unfortunately, no shows are in 4dX here. In normal 3D also, the film looks stunning. Don't miss it in 3D!

The film has one very good thing, which is- entertaining screenplay. Shankar has done his job absolutely fantastic. He has written atmost entertaining screenplay for 2.0. Film never looses you even for a second. Abbas Tyrewala has written Hindi dialogues, and they are really good.

The second half starts with an emotional sequence. From where the film will lead us to the action sequences in the climax. All I can say is that emotional sequence could have been made better, but whatever is there, can be enjoyed fully. We can be able to see Akshay Kumar in a different role. Amyjackson looks stunning as Neela. She plays her part effectively.

Then comes the man, the Thalaiva, Superstar Rajnikanth. He is outstanding. There is a surprise factor of him as well. You are gonna love him. Also, don't miss the post credit scene after Tu Hi Re song. It has the best character of this film in it! It is hard to believe but there is no song in the film, like in the south Indian film! Actually, there is no space for any song, and I'm very glad that they did not push anything randomly. Just a Kailash Kher song is there in the background, which is likable because of its story telling and visuals.

The after effect of 2.0 is very personal. You have to keep the lesson which this film is giving out. Earth is not only for humans, so we don't have any rights to treat her badly. This film strongly has the potential to be an international level movie. And thus, it will make Indian Cinema proud.

For Shankar, the man who always discovers new things on celluloid, who has guts to create this type of epic, who has absolutely high visions that can never be matched, you have to see this film in 3D. Else, you will regret. For Shankar only, you can not rate this film. Because after seeing the film, you will feel proud that this film has been made in your country. Hands down!