You know what to expect when you go for a Sakthi Soundar Rajan film. Captain is his 6th film and is no different - a Hollywood theme indianized with local characters within a cliché South Indian masala template. Just have a look at his filmography below and if you have watched any of these films, you will understand what I meant.
Naanayam - Money Heist based
Naaikal Jakirthai - Animal based
Miruthan - Zombies
Tik Tik Tik - Space journey
Teddy - Animated teddy bear
And now Captain based on Alien invasion. However, to be honest, all his earlier films have ended beyond my expectations. It was entertaining with a decent script and narration. But always fell short when it came to overall production value (blame it on the cost).The very fact that he has been able to ditch out films in these genres without much fuss and cost is a big achievement in itself. Mind you - these are genres which even an established director will hesitate to attempt considering the cost and effort required. But does Captain entertain us in the same fashion ?
Captain Movie Review
The story is very Hollywood, a task force team of soldiers headed by Arya (Vetri) is assigned a secret task to enter into Sector 42 (a reserved non-habitat area somewhere in North east) to ascertain and certify the area for development. But they are told that the previous team which entered the area were killed in a strange manner. By now you would have guessed the rest of the story. Add to this a forced love track and a twist in the end.
This is a tried and tested template for the director and he sticks to the same. Infact even the BGM of his films (D Imman) have become repetitive. The film has its moments. For eg, I liked the concept of the spider and how it was linked to the overall signals and communication network of the aliens. Arya is very rigid and keeps a straight face through out. His group of team mates have done well and also evoke some laughter in some sequences. Simran has a larger screen space when compared to her previous outings recently, however the role is not developed in to a powerful character. Cinematography was okay but there was no much scope as the scenes were shot in few locations repeatedly.
On the negatives, its largely the CG work. Yes cost is a factor but it cant be an eye sore for the audience. The graphics are very amateurish and does not create any impact. If only they spent more on the graphics, this would have been a much better product overall. Very limited production value overall including the artificial sets shown in the film are a big let down. Some scenes did not have continuity, especially the internal block. They never show how the crew gets back to their site when surrounded by aliens from all sides. I am not sure why Aishwarya Lekshmi is accepting such films, when she gets more meaty characters in Malayalam.
For a story of this scale it would have been better to present the same in a much bigger canvas and a tight screenplay to keep the audience on the edge of the seat. Atleast some scary and thrilling sequences would have maintained a momentum. But that's not the case here. Thankfully the film is short in duration.
I seriously wish some big producers like Lyca support the director in his future projects.
Overall Rating - 2.5 / 5
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