EK VILLAIN

Director: Mohit Suri
Writers: Tushar Hiranandani, Milap Zaveri
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh, Prachi Desai
Runtime: 129 mins
Strength: Unique story and plot compared to most Bollywood movies, good acting
Weakness: Overly dramatic with many unnecessary scenes and dialogue
Rating: 2.5/5
Plot: When his lover becomes the latest victim of a serial killer, Guru blurs the line between good and evil in his pursuit of revenge.
Review:  With 'Ek Villain', Director Mohit Suri has remade the Korean crime thriller `I Saw The Devil`, modeling it to suit the Indian audience, and retain an U/A certificate, but, Suri fails to capitalise on a very well built up interest through his promos, and tight lipped crew, since the movie is caught up in unnecessary melodrama. Sidharth Malhotra plays the brooding Guru with the back story of a heart breaking childhood. Aisha, who manages to steal Guru`s heart, makes Guru leave behind his dark past, to build a life with his lady love. Unfortunately their love story is cut short when Aisha is tragically killed by a serial killer played by Riteish Deshmukh, who stars in a negative role for the first time. And he is magnificent. Sidharth is hardly convincing as a brooding, serious looking anti-hero. He ends up looking much out of his usual garb of a romantic hero. Even in his intense scenes and action sequences, Riteish easily overpowers with his subtle performance. The plot line moves interestingly between flashbacks and present day, almost seamlessly. The cinematography is not that great but the editing is crisp. The unveiling of the visceral saga has a lot of strong characters and Mohit has done a good job in adapting a foreign film and complimenting it with the drama that the Indian audience is used to. But he has gone a tad over in making a thriller.

Reviewed by Broti Rahman

***

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Ehren Kruger
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Kelsey Grammar, Stanley Tucci
Runtime: 165 mins
Strength: Incredible action, visuals and stunts
Weakness: Weak script, incoherent storyline, unnecessarily long
Rating: 2.5/5
Plot: In a world where humanity thinks that all alien robots are a threat following the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons that leveled Chicago, a mechanic and his family join the Autobots as they are targeted by a bounty hunter from another world.
Review: Built-on-excess franchise is back with a fourth installment, this one focusing on a Texas inventor (Mark Wahlberg), his daughter and her boyfriend as they uncover the “good” Transformers in order to battle the bad ones. Overlong (it clocks in at almost three hours), “Transformers: Age of Extinction” has so many crashes, fights and chases you'll wonder where Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox ended up. Even though it starts out more coherently than most, the latest edition quickly devolves into another rehash of its run, gun and destroy format. Director Michael Bay tosses in plenty of wincing one-liners, never letting his actors enjoy a moment of reflection that isn't filled with irony. The film hints at yet another level of creatures – Dinobots – but it doesn't integrate them effectively to make this anything more than a preview of coming attractions. Once the battle begins, “Age of Extinction” manages to smash more glass and level more buildings than Godzilla, Loki and the Green Goblin combined. When the U.S. seems appropriately decimated, Bay takes his show to China where even more structures topple. When the dust settles (and, remarkably, it does), it's clear Bay doesn't really work from a script. He uses a blueprint which has worked in making his films highly commercially successful. Grammer and Tucci ham it up, Wahlberg doesn't tarnish his action reputation and, quite likely, “Age of Extinction” will make a truckload of money (it actually already has, in less than two weeks!). Despite all the special effects bells and whistles, this “Transformers," though, isn't exactly a movie. It's a demonstration of skill. If you're up for Michael Bay's three-hour video presentation, by all means, go. But if you want a little more meat on your Transformers' bones, look elsewhere.

Reviewed by Mohammad Haque

***

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984)

Director: Sergio Leone
Writers: Harry Grey, Leonardo Benvenuti, James Woods
Stars: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern
Runtime: 259 min
Plot: A gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Review: A movie can't go wrong when the cast features Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern and Joe Pesci. Indeed! 'Once Upon a Time in America' is a masterpiece from master of Italian cinema, Director Sergio Leone. His films are all love letters to America, the American dreams of an Italian who grew up at the movies, who gave us Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Charles Bronson as we know them. It's a story of friends, where the story cuts back and forth to Noodles (De Niro) in his old age returning from exile, looking back on his childhood in Brooklyn, his rise to power with his partners. Twists come in slow pace. It gives the viewer time to let the emotions sink in. The story is also non-linear, and yet doesn't give away facts to the viewer- this is something that influenced Tarantino (and many others) in the style they follow today. The music of the film was composed by Ennio Morricone, arguably, one of his best works- his score is equally lively, saddened, intense, and perhaps majestic for a gangster epic. Performances all-round are fantastic, starting with the child actors straight to the veterans. De Niro's expressions are epic, he can tell you that he has seen it all before with a look in his eye. His weariness is amazingly realistic. A true masterpiece, not to be missed by movie lovers.

Reviewed by Zia Nazmul Islam