Thunivu Movie Review (2023)
Director: H. Vinoth
Language: Tamil
Cast: Ajith Kumar, Manju Warrier, Samuthirakani, John Kokken, Mamathi Chari, Ajay, Veera, Bagavathi Perumal, Darshan, Pavani Reddy, Ciby and Amir
Streaming: Theater
Synopsis:
Thunivu is a mystery thriller movie that begins with a bank robbery, which leads to a sense of revenge against the government and the police. They threaten the government and police that if they let them go out without any trouble, they will not do any harm to the hostages over there. If they make any trouble, they will kill all the hostages. Some of the gang members stay outside to support them as they run away.
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Thunivu Movie Review:
After the trailer was released, the reaction was mixed between fans and neutral fans because the trailer look exactly like BEAST (2022) film. But I had expectations because of H. Vinoth’s first two films.
The movie begins as a heist film. The screenplay is fast and the film doesn’t waste a lot of time setting up the premise. We are immediately thrown into the heist within the first 20 minutes of the movie. Ajith’s portrayal of the lead was superb.
I personally felt he was charismatic and had a dominant presence on the screen. The film had a good build-up, until the interval block and I was, to my surprise hooked on the plot. The second half is a big letdown.
Like its protagonist & his team (aka family), even Thunivu’s screenplay follows the KISS policy – Keep it simple, silly. The bank heist plan to steal 500cr goes haywire when another team led by the Devil himself takes over the heist with eyes on a far bigger amount and deeper motive.
Who is this Devil and why has he been involved in the heist forms the rest of the story. With AK leading from the front, Thunivu has a solid first half getting everything right from his intro to using his swag to kickstart the story.
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There is barely a dull moment here. It is the second half which is oversimplified with two back-to-back flashbacks where H. Vinoth let go of his inner Atlee. It brings a major tonal change and the attempt to bring in a strong yet emotional justification for the hero’s actions turns out to be too desperate.
It messes up the flow big time. Also, the oversimplification of the issue highlighted here makes the action that follows look silly. If only things could be resolved in such a simple manner.
No offense, it was really a pretty below-average movie. The first half was good with all the actions and the pace it was going and the second half I would say probably the worst. No logic and no acceptable scenes whatsoever.
A really poor screenplay and a usual cringe commercial story. I think H. Vinoth needs a lot of work to do so, I can’t find a better film of his than Sathuranga vettai now. Really disappointed.
Some of the scenes are mind-boggling while some are really good. Ajith’s performance was top-notch as always, with mass and good dialogue delivery the look was way too good. Manju, samuthirakani, and other cast did their role to perfection.
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Special kudos to mohanasundaram’s comedy which was amazing. I also liked the way the story does not depend on one character just like other commercial movies usually do. Overall a pretty below-average movie.
Writer-Director H. Vinoth, once again, like Valimai, comes with a relatable story, but fails to develop an engaging screenplay, further letdown by clueless direction. The first and second halves feel so unconnected; you wonder whether you’re watching an anthology film.
Unlike Valimai, the core emotion here has got no connection to the protagonist, who himself is kind of a bad boy. Desperate to convey a message, the director oversimplifies the second half, completely unrelated to the first half, where everyone felt it was a heist film.
The moral is understood but the movie was portrayed in an unrealistic manner encouraging violence. Though the hero is trying to uncover the scam by the bank owners, he still shoots and kills a lot of people.
If that is wrong this is also wrong. Here again no matter how much the heroes are shot they still stand strong. The police and citizens are shown as naive, clueless, and dumb people.
In fact, even the navy and air force couldn’t take down one man. This is not something to be encouraged. It’s like putting down other people in their professions just to show that a hero can do anything.
The storyline wasn’t good enough it was mostly torturing/killing/shooting people.
Verdict:
Thunivu isn’t H. Vinoth’s best film and we can expect a strong comeback soon. Good First Half – let down by Second Half. If you’re a fan of AK – you can be fully satisfied but neutral fans need the patience to watch 2nd half. Decent Thriller from Vinoth.
