Vijay and Prabhu Deva collaborate for the first time in the action entertainer Pokkiri which is the remake of the Mahesh Babu starrer Pokiri. This film looks pretty much like a festival kind film which serves as a perfect star vehicle for Vijay to expand his larger-than-life image by satisfying his hardcore fans. Just like his previous films, Vijay is again an entertainer, and more than performing, he is giving to the audience what they need from him. He proves once again that he is an all-rounder when it comes to action entertainers. While having such a big cast, Pokkiri works only for Vijay because the film sticks around him. We can't see the other actors shine in the film because they don't have much scope in this entertainer. Even the comic villain Prakash Raj is left with nothing more than getting beat by Vijay at the end. Pokkiri feels somewhat too large with its not-so-realistic action sequences and its flat narrative. There's nothing much exciting in the film except Vijay. The film becomes quite predictable and even the pre-climax plot twist is just a well-known aspect of the film that we have seen much in the past decades. The illogical scenes are pulling down the film's quality and it does disconnect the audience from the world that the film exists. There are many subplots in the film. We have a subplot for Vijay and Asin, Mukesh Tiwari and Asin, Prakash Raj and Napoleon and it goes on. This is somewhat an issue for this film because instead of driving into the main conflict the film deviates into unnecessary aspects that does pretty much nothing for the film. Until the scene where Nassar reveals the twist, we are just left with a rollercoaster which might be watchable but not memorable. It becomes inevitable to believe that Pokkiri has nothing much to offer to the audience. You can only retain the punch lines that Vijay continuously throws to his enemies and that's all. After Perarasu and Ramana, Prabhu Deva is the newly appointed director who takes on the usual Vijay template. This film might be a remake but it's still the ordinary Vijay film that you watched probably before with a different cast and crew but with the same Vijay. Overall, Pokkiri is watchable for Vijay the entertainer.
