Veera Dheera Sooran: Part 2

The reviews were spot on-Veera Dheera Sooran hooks you right from the opening scene with its gripping narrative. The film keeps you engaged with solid storytelling, immersive cinematography, and a standout single-shot sequence that adds to the intensity.

GV Prakash delivers a decent performance, complementing the film's tone well. However, where the movie falters is in its extended screenplay towards the climax. The last half, while still engaging, loses momentum, making the final stretch feel unnecessarily prolonged. If about 20 minutes had been trimmed, this could have easily been a 4-star film.

Despite its minor flaws, Veera Dheera Sooran is a well-crafted movie with strong storytelling and technical finesse. Just the drag in the climax holds it back from being truly exceptional.

This marks the first occasion in my life where I have encountered a film that deliberately defies chronological order; I cannot remember any prior instances where the creators opted to unveil 'Part 2' of a series before presenting the first instalment.

Now, many may mistakenly believe that such an unconventional approach would lead to narrative inconsistencies and possibly make the storytelling disjointed, but I assure you, that was far from the reality here.

The plot unfolds with clarity, allowing audiences to clearly grasp the events on screen while simultaneously igniting curiosity about the characters, just as intended, leaving one eager for further revelations.

The only moment it falters is shortly after the intermission, when it briefly revisits a flashback scene, this segment, aside from one standout scene in the police station, felt inferior compared to the rest.

And I guess this wouldn't really come off as a surprise but Chiyaan Vikram, as 'Kaali', overshadowed nearly everyone else, with the sole exception of SJ Suryah, who once again proved his mettle and held his own ground on his own merit.

The technical crew behind cinematography and sound designing deserves commendation as well, for they had crafted a film that is both visually and aurally sumptuous. Some of the visuals were simply breathtaking, and the background score by G. V. Prakash Kumar infused the necessary vigour and energy into the mix.

Ven though the story itself is not anything new, the screenplay brilliantly makes it feel fresh. The way, the film shows the events of one night slowly giving the audience information piece by piece and letting us solve the puzzle for the most part while keeping the tension alive was so fun. The rawness of everything around was elevated by the great performances, obviously expected from Vikram but also most of the other cast. The flashback portion in the middle felt a little bit unnecessary and slowed down the film but the way it ended was satisfactory. The drama and the rawness were strong points of the film but the action itself was mostly just okay when everything surrounding it was really great. The action scene near the end was a bit of a mess. Narratively, it makes sense because how even at that point the characters are revealing their intents and character by their actions but it was shot in a weird way. The way a lot of small, small things are connected to the main story, a reveal at the very end which shows how everything happened because of coincidences that were meant to be and connected to each other way more than we thought was very interesting as well as giving a bit of levity after all the brutality.

The decision to call this Part 2 still feels a bit gimmicky and just a promotion tactic. There's not really much need for a part 1 but if they make it, they better make it worthy of this.

I am happy to finally watch a Vikram film from the theater and be satisfied. The screenplay was brilliant but there were a few compromises without which this could've been truly great.

Synopsis With tense scenes that offer thrills and mas moments, SU Arun Kumar's Veera Dheera Sooran - Part 2 soars in its first half but comes crashing to the ground with a routine third act

Veera Dheera Sooran - Part 2 Movie Review: A solid action thriller undone by a conventional, weakly written third act.

Veera Dheera Sooran - Part 2 Movie Synopsis: A gangster who has given up his violent ways agrees to take up one last hit job to save his former boss' son, who is the target of a police officer seeking to settle an old score. With all three using his family as a threat to bend him to their will, can he outsmart them all and remain the last man standing?

Veera Dheera Sooran - Part 2 Movie Review: SU Arun Kumar's Veera Dheera Sooran begins in a most intriguing manner. The filmmaker drops us in the middle of a developing situation with hardly any setup to give us an idea of why things are happening. This instantly makes us get involved with the film - even though we hardly know anything about its plot or character. A woman lands up at the door of Periyavar/Ravi (Prudhvi Raj, cast against type in a serious role), a local big shot with criminal links, of doing away with her husband. Her husband, meanwhile, complains to SP Arunagiri (SJ Suryah, fine balancing the greyness of the character to keep us guessing) that his wife and daughter are missing. This provides the cop with the ammo that he's been looking for to take down Periyavar and his son Kannan (Suraj Venjaramoodu, making an impressive debut in Tamil), who had played dirty with him a decade ago. Arunagiri plots an encounter killing prompting Periyavar to reach out to his erstwhile viswasi Kaali (a robust Vikram who offers a peek into the mass avatar of his Dhool and Saamy days), who has given up his violent ways and is now leading a peaceful life with his wife Kalai (a competent Dushara Vijayan even makes us overlook the huge age gap between her and the male lead) and their two children. Arun Kumar keeps the tension alive by making Kaali vulnerable as he pits him against three individuals who he cannot trust and yet do their bidding as they slyly use his family as a threat in their own ways. At least until the intermission, the director holds back from giving us any peek into their shared history. All we get are mere mentions of events and names from their past - especially an incident that they refer to as 'Sudhakar sambavam' - which has led them all to this powder keg of a situation. This actually forces us, the audience, to individually imagine what might have happened, and pick characters to root for as well as hate.

And tense action keeps unfolding as there are cat-and-mouse-game-like scenarios and near-miss episodes that keep us hooked. One particular scene, involving landmines (or "kezhangu", as the characters call it) delivers edge-of-the-seat thrill, and another, which marks the meeting of Kaali and Arunagiri gives us a whistle-worthy mass masala moment. The film would have remained unique and engaging (and also justifying the Part 2 in the title) if Arun Kumar had trusted his audience and chosen to show us only the events that unfold during this one night. Perhaps he felt breaking the convention of providing a flashback would be too risky a move, but the director decides to give us the back story (at least the portions that matter), including the 'Sudhakar sambavam'. This is where the film begins to lose its individuality as the back story that we eventually get doesn't match with what we have all built up in our heads all through the first half; rather, it just feels so routine!

The film does recover from this minor setback when it gets back to the present with an ambitious one-shot set piece (shot with dynamism by Theni Eswar, whose night-time cinematography is one of the film's strong points) that begins with a group of characters discussing who among them could be the black sheep and moves on to a shootout between cops and gangsters, and then to a heroic moment. But then, just when we expect it to soar higher, it helplessly remains stuck on the ground. Like someone painstakingly building a house of cards and finally making a move that brings most of the structure down, Arun Kumar undoes all the earlier good work with a weakly written third act (despite its title, this is not the film where we can willingly suspend disbelief when its hero gets back up after being thrashed and even shot at by over a dozen men) that leaves us with a slightly bitter aftertaste. And the director himself seems to have realised this and decides to bank on nostalgia (yes, with THAT Vikram song!) to inject some energy into his limp climax.

Verdict: Super Hit.

Director S. U. Arun Kumar Unleashed a powerhouse-raw, unfiltered Vikram in his primal glory. This isn't just a film; it's full of Chiyaan nostalgia, from the "Sethu"-inspired title font to the "Dhool" song tribute, this is a full-throttle VIKRAM's unrelenting swagger. A masterclass in controlled chaos. Mad respect. Now, let's be clear: if you're expecting "Dhool 2.0" or the emotional depth of "Chithha", you're looking in the wrong place. This is a wild, crazy ride, and Vikram as Kaali? He's an absolute beast.

The premise? Deceptively simple. Picture this: a normal dude, just running his shop, gets sucked into this crazy criminal mess during the village festival. And his old boss, Ravi, played by Prudhvi, is reuesting him to save his son, Kanna, from this cop, Arunagiri (SJ Suryah), who's out for blood. Turns out, this cop wants to take them down hard, like, "encounter" level, because humiliation runs deep, and retribution is best served bullet-riddled. What follows is a single, chaotic night-a high-octane action.

If you crave that conventional mass entertainer, you'll eat this up. The entire cast crushes it, but SJ Suryah as the cop? Man, he's next level. And Suraj Venjaramoodu? Creepily brilliant. And the camera work? Brownie points for the single shot will be remembered as one the best sequence in the film.

GV Prakash's music? Straight fire. It amps up the mass scenes, and there's a throwback to Vikram's "Madhura Veeran," and the crowd went wild. Theatre was shaking, for real. Now I'm hyped for what he does with Ajith's "Good Bad Ugly."

In closing, "Veera Dheera Sooran: Part 2" is a banger. It has a few rough edges and loses momentum in places, but that doesn't diminish the overall movie experience. Just go in with the right expectations, ready for a wild ride, and you won't be disappointed to see Chiyaan back in a full-blown mass role. I'm already waiting for the prequel!