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In Dino, the trend is to visit theatres largely to watch epic historicals, actioners, superhero or star-studded films. But Metro breaks the notion. Despite being a simple slice of life film, it keeps you riveted through its runtime.

In Dino, the trend is to have a different premise or world-building to attract the audience. But Metro breaks the notion. The basic premise and characters of the film aren't something that you might have not seen before. But rather than being predictable, they come across as relatable.

In Dino, nobody would dare to make a musical in times when lipsync or even songs are vanishing from films. But Metro breaks the notion. It is a full-fledged musical with characters rendering out their happy-sad stories through song numbers. But you don't seek the FF button since it is seamlessly integrated in the storytelling.

In Dino, director Anurag Basu was not at his best after churning out a half-baked 'Jagga Jasoos' or a muddled up 'Ludo'. But Metro gets him back to his full-bloom glory. Not only he does justice to the spirit of the original Metro but lends grace and poise in taking the legacy ahead.

In Dino, audience attention spans are apparently getting shorter and engaging audience on a single long story seems daunting. Basu gets the best of both worlds - switching to multiple small tracks and connecting them all into one cohesive theme - marriage.

You get to see different shades of marriage - somebody unsure of it, love lost in someone's marriage, somebody just used to it, et al. Different perspectives, common emotion - love that binds them all.

Metro... in dino is a director's film. He touches the audience - arousing the best of emotions and extractacting the best of performances from practically the entire cast. The Aditya-Sara track seems predictable, the Konkana-Pankaj track somewhat stretched, the Anupam-Neena track starts of late, the Ali Fazal-Sana track slightly repetitive. But at the end, all are resolved to an animatedly edited gratifying climax.

In Dino, I had pretty much given up but Metro rekindled my faith in good cinema!

For some strange reason or call it Korean crime drama fetish, none of the characters in this modern-day show use guns to attack each other. They only use knives or at the most baseball bats to fight with their opponents. Even in face of death! As inane and indigestible as it may sound, there is a certain adrenaline rush and dopamine high in watching these hand to hand combats. And perhaps thats where this crime drama clicks with the audience.

Other than that is a hero who is an absolute one-man-army and can kill hundreds single-handedly. Every time he starts butchering men, we know he is going to win. However, high the stakes are against him, he seldom fails. So despite being hugely predictable, the fight sequences still click with the audience because it glamourizes the hero such that every viewer feels like living their videogame fanatasies.

But beyond this, the series has absolutely nothing new to offer in terms of its storyline. A gangster who has quit the world of crime, goes on a killing spree when his ganglord brother is killed. The story is laced with typical tropes of mafia gangwars and the thirst for gaining the ultimate power to rule the city. More than a mystery-thriller on who killed the brother, the series largely works as an actioner. There is enough and more blood and gore and even the most sensational slasher and (literal) cut-throat moments do not surprise as we have seen too much of these gimmicks onscreen of late.

There are ganglords who break the decade-old truce, a debauched son, blatantly evident betrayals and criminals changing loyalties. Other than a lady lawyer, the series has no other female character. Nobody's complaining on that front as the fast-paced show has no time for romance subplots or backstory flashbacks.

Mercy for None has nothing new to offer. But if you enjoy the cheap thrills of a one-man-army actioner, you can give it a try.

The film starts very interestingly and unusually as two brothers get embroiled in a child kidnapping case that they were merely a witness to. One of them is willing to help the mother get back her child while the other believes this is none of his business. Evidently, the story is about the change of heart of the callous brother and how he finally helps solve the case.

This basic premise that forms the major part of the first half is interesting. But in raising the stakes against our heroes by getting them on a roller-coaster journey (quite literally), the storytelling gets convoluted, and you also lose interest. Suddenly, the victims are confused to be the kidnappers, and a whole village chases them to death as if they have nothing better to do. The pace increases, the action gets adrenaline-pumping but the narrative strays from the central plot.

By the time the story comes back to the core theme of kidnapping and when you finally get to know the motive behind the crime, you just lose connect and interest in the film. The expectations go rife but the execution is tame.

Performances are good - particularly from the mother (Mia Maelzer) who is amazing. Shubham Vardhan, as the sorted brother, reminds of Abhay Deol in his dialogue delivery and performance and is as much nuanced. Abhishek Bannerjee gets his moments in the second half and does well.