Those who live by the sword, die by the sword', goes the caption at the end of 'Bheema'. It is nothing new; for, we have seen both the caption, and the saga of the gangster and his favorite henchman, in innumerable films earlier. It's again a sense of déjà vu for a viewer here. The film does begin promisingly, and manages to keep viewer's attention engaged for the earlier part. However, as the narration proceeds, the scenes turn repetitive, and the script takes a downslide from which it never recovers. Chinna is a thug, whose men are on a killing spree. But who his victims are, and what really is their crime, is a confused scenario. With Chinna's rival being Periyavar (Raghuvaran), a wobbly aging gangster who could barely speak coherently, there is not much of an intimidating opposition for Chinna. It's a further lost cause for Periyavar, with the entry of the gutsy, one-man-army Shekhar into Chinna's fold. Shekhar had admired Chinna's ways and attitude since childhood and had joined his gang. The police enter the picture in order to end the gang war. But with no proper strategy, it's confusion confounded. Some of the fights are well choreographed, while others are those gravity and bullet- defying ones.eaved into this is the love story between Shekar and Shalini (Trisha), and of Chinna's secret love (Lakshmi Gopalasami). It's an ornamental role for Trisha, though there is a futile attempt to thrust her character towards the climax. Songs and dance numbers pop up at inopportune moments causing a lag. . The finale is a weakly etched one, which neither touches a chord, nor evokes any sympathy.
Prakashraj plays Chinna with flair and panache. Thalaivasal Vjay makes his mark as his loyal man. Nevertheless, the saving grace of the film is Vikram. Looking handsome, using his body language to good effect, Vikram plays Shekhar with total involvement and sincerity. The actor is consistently good, even when the script lets him down.
Lingusamy had made well packaged, engrossing, action-packed entertainers like 'Run' and 'Sandakozhi'. 'Bheema' seems to be the weakest of his scripts. It's a film strictly for Vikram's fans.
