Knight and Day

Medium : English
Starring : Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz
Director : James Mangold

Though hollywood star Tom Cruise came to the acting arena in the beginning 80's through movies like 'Top Gun', 'A Few Good Men' etc it was the hit movie, 'Mission Impossible' which happened in the mid 90's that made him widely notable. He has done two more sequels for 'MI' and in the epic subject, 'The Last Samurai' he has got a different appearance. Anyway years before, Tom Cruise has become yet another hero in the country where English projects can be marketed under his label. His latest movie 'Knight and Day' has got Cameron Diaz as the heroine. She has done big movies like 'The Mask', 'Charlies Angels', 'My Best Friends Wedding' etc. She gave the voice for the princess role in the 3d animation hit series 'Shrek'. It is directed by James Mangold, the creator of Psycho thriller 'Identity'.

Two strangers, Roy (Tom Cruise) and June (Cameron Diaz) met at the airport, while travelling to Boston. Roy, the secret agent is being followed by certain group, as June is seen talking with him, they assumes that both are companions. She was on the way to attend her sister's wedding. Roy saves her from the gang and left her in a safer place. Due to certain circumstances, both of them meet again. Now only she is aware that some gang is following her. June is having a deep affection towards Roy due to his caring attitude. He reveals the secret that he is having a powerful battery and the group want to grab it from him. Now both of them escaped to a safe hide outs in an island. They have to leave that area since as they were located. At this time, the CIA officers contacted her and gave the real truth behind Roy and they wants her to surrender. She agrees and they have surrounded Roy. What happens to the clever hero, how he takes revenge on the real culprits is told in the later portions of 'Knight and Day'.

The story of the movie is not new, we have seen similar situations many times in hollywood before. The 'Bourne Identitly' series and some James Bond movies are few examples. The hero belongs to a certain organization, the villains and his colleagues are chasing him for getting some valuable information or to collect certain things. Here it comes in the form of battery. The incidents here are happening in different parts of the globe like Boston, Austria, Germany, Spain, Mexico etc. The hero escapes from different places with the heroine and reaches a far away destination with in a flash, which can be called as 'cinematic'. In such an action subject no use in questioning such things. As every hollywood hero, Roy drives a car, a racing bike and at the most an air craft also. In few areas, the chroma shots are evident.

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz did well in their roles. The combination scenes between them are good as they are having a mix of action and comedy. The chasing scenes are done well, especially the bull chase in Spain. The cinematography and the bg sore are another area that needs special mention.

I am extremely happy to watch an English movie with subtitle in theaters, the first of this kind happened in my life, hope a few others who were in the hall also experienced the same thrill...


'Knight and Day' is an action-comedy thriller by Tom Cruise with a theme discussed several times before. Even then you can watch it as a time pass.


Rating : 7 / 10

Nallavan

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Jayasurya, Sidhiq, Saikumar, Sudheesh, Bijukkuttan, Mythili
Director : Aji John
Music : Mohan Sitara, Saanand George (bg score)

To do a character with a shaven head is treated as unusual and lucky phenomena for any artist irrespective of the language. Mammootty in 'Yathra', Thilakan and Manoj.K.Jayan in 'Perunthachan', Dileep in 'Mulla', Sharath Kumar in 'Sooryan', Charan Raaj in 'Gentleman', Kamalhassan in 'Aalavandhan', Soorya and Amir Khan in 'Ghajini' versions etc are some of the examples. No need to analyze the commercial successes of all the above projects, but it is a fact that all those appearances were having a strong motive or purpose defined in the role. The reason for discussing such a thing is just because of the rising star Jayasurya, who also got a bald appearance in his latest movie titled 'Nallavan', but on the contrast he comes in such a look which is very irrelevant, only to participate in a one to one action sequence in the climax and that too for a duration less than 5 minutes.

The problems happened between different organizations in the cine industry has delayed the release of 'Nallavan'. It is directed by debutant Aji John. He was working as an editor-director in the mini screen. Like Saji Surendran ('Ivar Vivahitharaayal', 'Happy Husbands' fame), he has also decided to start his filmi-career through Jayasurya. Mydhili ('Paleri Manikyam' fame) is the heroine. Saanand George, a busy re-recordist in the mini screen, enters the cine industry by giving bg score for this movie. It is produced and distributed by Anil Mathew and Murugan, who had given a super hit project, 'Puthiya mukham' before. Ajith Nambiar has written the script. The pre-production stills of 'Nallavan' was done in a big way and it caught attention very much.

The story starts by showing Kocherukkan (Jayasurya), running from the police custody. Kochu is now having the record of four jail breaks so far. In the flashback, Kochu and Malli (Mythili) are shown as orphans. Malli lives in the house of a village land lord (Saikumar) as a helper. Her love for Kochu is being objected by the latter and the rich man decided to arrange her marriage with his relative (Suraaj Venjarammood). Thus both of them ran each other. On the way they were defended by the police inspector (Sidhiq), but he can't catch them. They reaches a far away place, where Kochu's friend (Sudheesh) lives. When they went to the register office, it was found that the girl is only 17, thus as per request from the sub-registrar (Kochu Preman), they decided to wait for an year.

Next year, on the marriage day, Kochu is caught by the police inspector. He took revenge by putting false charges against him and produced him in the court. He escaped from there and reaches his lover, marriage happens and Kochu is again caught. Malli is killed later, flash back over and now the hero takes kills the police inspector, who is the real culprit, through a fight. In the final shot, hero is shown running with the heroine, it means he is dead (?). So majority of the incidents are not registered well.

Kochu is shown as a 20 year old guy. It is not apt for Jayasurya's appearance, hence to enhance it, he has given a childish performance, which felt irresistible most of the time. There is chance for Mythili to be type casted; her character ends almost similar as in the case of 'Paleri Manikyam'. She is over acting, Sreeja's dubbing is dominated over her performance. The jail breaking episodes are not shown convincingly, it is shown as if like a tooth brushing experience for the hero. The connection link between the flash back and the current period is lost at a certain point of time. The story (by director) itself is not the good one, the scripting by Ajith Nambiar also made the situation worse. The landlord is shown as a villain and the relevance of his character being killed by a criminal with the support of his relative (Vijayakumar) and the police inspector is not known. Suraaj Venjarammood is placed in a couple of scenes for generating comedy, but the situations happening there can make you cry.

Hero's friend shown in a song can be accepted, but the placement of the latter's mother (Bindu Paniker) in it as a dancer is unprofessional. Choreography by Kala is not attractive. Songs by Mohan Sitara is very poor and the voice of the new singers felt very amateurish also. Appearance of Sidhiq is good, but Saikumar's hair style is not a stable one. Bg score by Saanand George goes with the mood well. Cinematography by Manoj Pillai and Pradeep Nair is ok. Samjith ('Red Chillies', 'Puthiya Mukham' fame) is the editor.

An young actor like Jayasurya, with an experience of around 45 movies in a span of 10 years should analyze his project and read the script well before doing movies like 'Nallavan'. The title character won't be easily accepted even if he is going for different style appearances and doing adventures like 'shaving' the head etc...all those things became unnecessary in the end...


Rating : 2.5 / 10 (revised)

Oru Naal Varum

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Suraj Venjarammood, Sameera Reddy, Devayani
Director : T.K.Rajeev Kumar
Music : M.G.Sreekumar

The tensions prevailing between various organizations in the malayalam cine industry like producers, distributors, exhibitors etc along with the monsoon season has affected badly the release of Mohanlal's new movie 'Oru Naal Varum'. The movie which was planned to release in the second half of May has now reached theaters, after affecting certain controversies also. We are aware of the fact that a third party came to the lime light claiming the real story credit of 'Oru Naal Varum'. Anyway now the issues are solved and the distributors assume that since the football fever is in its climax, this is the right time for the release.

After the hit movie 'Udayanaanu Thaaram', Sreenivasan once again decided to take the pen for Mohanlal. T.K.Rajeev Kumar, who is notable through his debutant project, 'Chaanakyan' (by Kamalhassan), has directed it. He did a a couple of projects like 'Pavithram' and 'Thacholi Vargheese Chekavar' with Mohanlal before. The producer Maniyanpillai Raju has given a movie with the same director before, 'Kannezhuthi Pottumthottu'. This time the hero's pair comes from the north, Sameera Reddy ('Musafir', 'No Entry' fame). The music section here is handled by M.G.Sreekumar, who is concentrating more on the composing side, these days.

Sukumaran (Mohanlal) wants to construct a new house in the city. He needs approval from Gopikrishnan (Sreenivasan), the Assistant Town Planning Officer, a corrupted guy. Gopikrishnan lives with his wife (Devayani) and daughter, who is deeply interested to join MBBS course. He is planning to get admission for his daughter in a self financing seat. Sukumaran tried hard, but he is unable to get positive sign from the officer. The instability in the family relationship between Sukumaran and his wife Meera (Sameera Reddy) is also shown. She is staying separately, leaving her husband and little daughter. At last, Sukumaran decided to bribe Gopikrishnan, which leads to a certain chain of incidents in both their families, thus the story of 'Oru Naal Varum' progresses.

Some of the incidents shown here has got the flavor of Mohanlal's recent movie, 'Ividam Swargamaanu' since both the projects discussed the activities related to the government departments. The base story idea is good, but script by Sreenivasan needs more professionalism in conceiving it. Though the family matters of the hero is shown parallelly, it is incomplete and has seen many times before. Such situations are incorporated to attract the family crowd and also to take an attention away from the cat & mouse game happening between Mohanlal and Sreenivasan's characters. No big humor is happening here, even though Suraj Venjarammood is given a role (under pressure), as Gopikrishnan's driver. The name of the village 'kundathode' written on a board and placed beside hero's plot is the last way to generate laughter. The full stop given to Nedumudi Venu's character in such a way is not acceptable. Even though we can demand realistic situations, a cinematic finish should have been done for such a story. Sameera Reddy struggled a lot to show emotions.

The transformation happening to the hero's character is an appreciated one, which is the highlight of the movie. Some of the lighter actions by him in the beginning areas is catchy. Manoj Pillai's cinematography is good. 'Paadan Ninakkoru...' song is already a hit and the only attraction of 'Naathoone...' song is Mohanlal's voice, but they are not included in the movie. Bg score by M.G.Sreekumar goes with the mood. The dialogues has got Sreenivasan's touch, the comic ones are not impressive all the time, but the serious punches in the combination between the hero and his opponent can caught attention. T.K.Rajeev Kumar is lucky enough to get a 'come back' movie, as he got the most experienced artists in the lead roles.

As viewers like us doesn't want anything new, the creators are also not ready for an experiment...let us hope, it will change, oru naal varum...

'Oru Naal Varum' cannot be rated as top class from Mohanlal-Sreenivasan combination. It targets family audiences and also good to see Mohanlal in the role of an 'ordinary' man, without much heroism incorporated in it. Watch this without much expectations, then you won't be disappointed...

Rating : 7 / 10

I Hate Luv Storys

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Imraan Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Sameer Dattani
Director : Punit Malhotra
Music : Vishal - Sekhar, Salim - Sulaiman (bg score)

After the debut hit, 'Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa', Imraan Khan (bollywood star Amir Khan's nephew), didn't have any other notable projects in his credit. His last movies like 'Kidnap' and 'Luck' have not done well. His new movie 'I Hate Luv Storys' has got Sonam Kapoor (d/o Anil Kapoor, 'Saawariya', 'Delhi-6' fame) as the heroine. After 'Kaal', 'Dostana', 'Wake Up Sid' and 'Kurbaan', hit maker of love stories, director Karan Johar once again wears the suits of a producer. Mega banner UTV is the co-producer. This time, the writer-director here is a new comer named Punit Malhotra.

Jai (Imran Khan) is working as an assistant to the super hit director of love stories, Veer Kapoor (Sameer Soni). As expected, the hero doesn't like the hindi movie love stories as all of them are having similar cliche situations. He meets Simran (Sonam Kapoor) at a theater while watching a movie, he argued with her as she is a great fan of love subjects. Simran is working as the art director for Veer's new project. Jai is shifted to her department as an assistant. Simran is being engaged to Raj (Sameer Dattani, 'Monalisa'(k), 'Corporate'(h) and 'Kutty'(t) fame), an investment banker. She is irritated due to Jai's attitude and one stage there happens an exchange of words between the two. As in every love stories, her hatred is transformed into love with the hero later. When the shooting of the new movie comes to an end, both of them are loving each other, though the hero refused to accept it. How he wins the love is what told in the climax of 'I Hate Luv Storys'.

In the very first moment when both the characters are introduced, we are able to know what will be happening between them in the later portions. The theme used here (excluding the disagreement in love matters), has got the flavour of tamil movie 'Vaseegara' (by Vijay and Sneha). That movie justified the change in attitude of the heroine character by showing the lovable character of the hero, but here we can't witness such a thing. The phone call episode between the hero and mother might be adapted from 'Dil Chahtha Hai', but it is not done in the best way. The second half is lagging here and there. Though the hero is shown as an enemy of love stories, here also the climax is filled with the same situations as every love subjects have.

Imraan Khan and Sonam Kapoor did well in the lead roles. Cinematography by Ayananka Bose ('Dostana', 'Kites' fame) is colorful. Songs by Vishal - Sekhar will goes with the mood, bg score by Salim - Sulaiman is good. New comer Punit Malhotra has created attention by selecting such a theme and title for his debut movie.

The boldness of the producer Karan Johar to criticize his own movies and make a spoof on the romantic situations from them, should be appreciated.


The title 'I Hate Luv Storys' is different; but it cannot be categorized as an unusual bollywood movie, as the love formula used here ends up in an expected way only (it felt like they are justifying the love stories done by them in the past).


Rating : 6.5 / 10

Edge of Darkness

Medium : English
Starring : Mel Gibson, Danny Huston
Director : Martin Campbell

Mel Gibson, the director of notable movies like 'The Passion of the Christ', 'Apocalypto' etc is back to his acting career. His new project titled 'Edge of Darkness', is directed by Martin Campbell, who gave James Bond movies like 'Golden Eye' and 'Casino Royale', 'The Mask of Zorro' etc. This is a family-action subject that discusses the father's revenge when he lost his only daughter.

Thomas (Mel Gibson) is a police detective who lives alone. His daughter, Emma is visiting him after a long gap. She is being shot dead at the house, in front of his father. The investigative agency and Thomas himself thought that he was the target and his daughter might be an innocent victim. Later when a pistol is found from his daughter's bag, he smelled something unusual. He met the owner of the pistol, who in turn is Emma's boy friend. The young man was hiding something and Thomas decided to conduct his own investigation which ended in the company Northmoor, where his daughter worked. Emma finds that the functioning of the firm is not straight and clear and some fraud things were happening in its back ground. She wants to expose it to the world, which might have ended in her death. Who are all behind it and how Thomas takes the revenge is shown in the later portions of 'Edge of Darkness'.

Mel Gibson did well in the lead role. He is good as an old father who is prepared to destroy those who had killed his daughter. The combination scenes between the father and daughter is good, thought it is not lengthy. There is no much suspense here as expected and the anti climax scene is also a straight one. Such a revenge subject needs more action sequences than dialogues (at least to attract more viewers here). But the director had made me shocked a couple of times, by showing some fast and unexpected incidents. The cinematography is simple and good.

It is good to see that even in the absence of the central character, the revenge episode is happening. It ultimately tells us that 'subject' is the real hero, not the 'star' acted in it; a lesson for our creators to be learned...


'Edge of Darkness' is a revenge story without much hard core action sequences as expected. A die hard follower of English movies can watch this one.


Rating : 7 / 10