Bakwaas Beast: My quick take on Thalapathy Vijay’s “Beast”
I saw this "Hindi" dubbed version of "Beast," which is fittingly titled "RAW," because I found the film to be "half baked" (raw) and a poor replica of the Hollywood film "Doorman." (Though it is never stated that it is based on a Hollywood film.) An ex-marine, like in Doorman, is battling her own demons after failing to save a US diplomat's daughter in an ambush in an East European country, and now works as a doorman in a New York hotel. She comes across a bunch of mercenaries who have taken over the hotel in order to sneak out some valuable paintings. While in Beast, Vijay plays a counterintelligence officer who also experiences a 'bungled' operation in POK that results in the death of a toddler girl, he now returns to Chennai and is hired as a security officer at a mall, which is taken over by a group of ISIS terrorists, and our Thalapathy saves the mall, this is the simple storyline. The only difference between Doorman and Beast is that Doorman's ex-marine is a female character (played superbly by Australian actress Ruby Ross), whereas our hero (supposed to be) Vijay is an Alpha male.
The storyline is terrible, the plot is ludicrous, Nelson's direction is shoddy, the action is amateurish, the humor is juvenile, and the acting is dreadful, making it a Bakwaas Beast - ekdum RAW. I'm a little startled because I enjoyed filmmaker Nelson's earlier film "Doctor," but his direction here is rather basic. Thalapathy Vijay is the film's only saving grace; he is gradually stepping into Thallaiva's shoes, and he has tried his best to save the film. Pooja Hegde, who plays the female protagonist, continues to be a jinxed celebrity, having been in box office bombs (Mohenjo Daro, Radhe Sham, and now RAW).
Allow me to describe a couple of absurd action scenarios. As in the Ramayana/Mahabharat TV serial, where two arrows fired at each other meet in the air and one destroys the other, a sequence of air-to-air missiles fired by the Pakistani air force is countered by the Indian air force, and the two missiles meet in mid-air, reminding you of Ramanand Sagar's legacy. Second, our macho Vijay believes in a hand-to-hand battle in the face of a hail of gunshots from LMGs — stunning!! Even Thallaiva will be impressed; he uses a shotgun to protect himself from bullets fired by automatic AK47s (Sau sonar ki, Ek Lohar ki type sequence). Unfortunately, the movie is flooded with many irrational and senseless scenes. The viewing experience is made worse by the terrible Hindi dubbing.
I am confident that the movie will soon appear on OTT platforms, hence stay away from Bakwaas Beast. You can even tolerate John’s Satyamev Jayate 2 for the second time but this beast will get on to your nerves.
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