Captain Miller

With every film of his, Arun Matheswaran comes across as a filmmaker who wants to stamp his name among the auteurs in the action genre. Captain Miller gives him the budget and a star in Dhanush to propel his period action-drama, with the writer-director learning from the criticism of his previous outings - the lack of a resonating emotional core. He course-corrects that to a large extent in this film, though there are stretches of drama where the proceedings are perfunctory, and their sole intention remain building to a major action block. The three act structure follows the realize-revolt-rampage pattern which our audiences are quite familiar with, and your satisfaction levels are bound to vary depending on how you take to it.

Dhanush excels in both the set-pieces & dramatic segments, and he's basically the one who holds the fort even when it shows signs of crumbling. His screen presence is used to scorching effect in those mass elevation moments, and he delivers the goods with aplomb. Aiding him are solid supporting acts from Priyanka Arul Mohan, Elango Kumaravel, and Nivedhithaa Sathish. The extended cameos from Shivanna and Sundeep are neatly incorporated, with the trio's action-packed crescendo arriving in the form of an Avengers Assemble! Kind of shot. GV Prakash Kumar has done fantastic work on the musical side of things, with both the songs and the score elevating the visuals.

Siddhartha Nuni is one of the most promising cinematographers of the times, and I've begun to take a liking for his fiery night shots. Whether the frames pan wide or focus on the protagonists' emoting faces, they're compelling - the only exception being the frantic, handheld shots. The cast mostly delivers, including the foreign actors, though I'm tired of seeing Alexx O'Nell in almost every period drama there is. We need to bring in more prominent names.. for instance, like how Karthik Subbaraj was able to add James Cosmo in Jagame Thandhiram. Dhanush is now fairly well-known internationally, isn't it?

My first theater watch of the year and it does use the big screen and sound impressively. But there are few movies that despite finding it to be very predictable, with so many moments that feel wasted, the emotions not hitting as they should and still come out satisfied with the end product like this. There are so many things going on in this movie, that it could have taken a lot of directions. Here, they chose to focus the most on the action and there are some great setpieces. Arun Matheshwaran knows how to make a frame look incredible and he does that brilliantly throughout the movie. There's so much that is told through framing and composition alone without actually saying anything. But unlike Rocky which followed an arthouse approach, this is a fully commercial approach without going overboard.

The problem with the movie is that there are so many characters and events happening that the emotions they are trying to convey are not fully realized on screen as they want to be. It felt like there might be a much longer cut that would properly justify and convey the emotions and if there is, that could be truly great.

Shiva Rajkumar was nice in his role. But his and Sundeep Kishan's roles really felt like they needed more screen time to give the full impact that was intended. Even Priyanka Mohan's character who had decent screen time lacked the proper writing for a lot of things to make sense.

In a way, it also felt like the familiarity of the way the story unfolds was also utilized to not explain a lot of things too much.

The dialogue about why the protagonist is joining the British army despite the freedom struggle happening was the high point in terms of writing in my opinion. That was used as a pivot point to start the journey. The action-packed nature of the movie also kind of lessened the impact of some of the more horrific stuff happening. But still, the action was terrific and even if the director falters when he tries to use the star elements of the actors, it doesn't go too much into the star worship level things that these types of films do.

GV Prakash Kumar's music is also a huge part of the movie as it really elevated a lot of the scenes and at times also made apparent why some aspects needed better writing.

It is unnecessary to say that Dhanush did a fantastic job but a lot of times the character became more than what is written because of his acting. He brought depth through performance that was not explored enough through writing and direction.

Ashraf Mallissery speaking Malayalam instead of Tamil when he's agitated is something I enjoyed in both this and Rocky. But the Malayalam audience in the theatre sure loved that dialogue.

Despite all of its problems, I enjoyed the movie a lot. The theatre experience was a blast and I really hope they have an extended cut for this.

"Captain Miller" delivers an action-packed thrill ride with a unique blend of Indian flair and intense sequences reminiscent of "John Wick." Dhanush shines as the titular character, bringing depth and authenticity to the role. The film's emotional depth adds richness to the story, while the background score creates goosebumps-inducing moments throughout. Director Arun Matheswaran impresses with his ability to balance action and emotion, making every scene captivating. Despite its lengthy runtime, the movie's pacing may feel slow for some, especially in action-heavy sequences. However, the gripping plot and surprising twists keep viewers engaged until the very end. The female characters also shine with their brutal and action-packed performances, adding to the film's intensity. While the violence may not be for everyone, it adds to the overall impact of the story. With a tantalizing hint at a potential sequel or spin-off in the final moments, "Captain Miller" leaves audiences eager for more adventures in its thrilling world.

It is more like a 6.5. It's a good, raw, rustic period action adventure film. Ofcourse Dhanush's performance is great as usual and one of the main attractions of the film. Cinematography is nice. BGM is nice. Action is nice. Locations are nice. Technically the film stands strong. The portrayal of British is appropriately evil and surprisingly, the white actors do a great job. The performances are all solid. But the plot itself causes an emotional disconnect. Overall, it is a well made film. I don't mind the depiction of casteism in post-colonial India but I can't get behind this narrative of Indian "upper-caste" kings enslaving the tribals/"lower-caste" people and not allowing them to enter the temples built by them before British. Actually, before British, there were Mughals/Is.lamic invaders.

Easa basically compares the brutality of British colonialism to being enslaved by Hindu kings and questions who will actually get the independence from the British if they joined the independence movement. The word caste comes from Portuguese. British race scientist Herbert Hope Risley is notable for the formal application of the caste system to the entire Hindu population of British India in the 1901 census, of which he was in charge. As an exponent of scientific racism, he used anthropometric data to divide Indians into seven races. The villagers oppressed by "upper-caste" Indians win when they are able to enter the temple after Miller kills one nasty, sadist "upper-caste" Indian who couldn't bear the villagers stepping inside the temple. In the epilogue, we are led to believe that the "upper-caste" rulers along with the pie.ce of sh.it sycophant who managed to escape want to take revenge against Captain Miller for the king's death. I don't want to see more sadist brown sepoys, casteist rulers against tribals during peak colonial India. In movies like these, there should not be any Indian villains. The only villains should be the British like in RRR. At least this movie is much better than Shamshera. I loved Captain Miller kil.ling all the British men. Imagine a movie set during Na.zi Germany where some Je.ws are conspiring with the Na.zis and then we get a franchise about Je.ws vs Je.ws.

Set on a backdrop of 40's Captain Miller tries to dig deep on the dillema of an ethnic community about whom to choose , the cruel and autocratic dynasty or british empire. Exploited by both « Captain Miller » the dacoit is born. Dhanush matches the intensity required as he uses his whole body to bring the anger , guilt . The screenplay and specially the action sequences are long and dull resulting the loose grip over the story.

One of my grievances with the south movies is they can't portray grey . The characters are straight evil or god . Very lazily written motives makes you question their intentions . Would have been a great watch had it not been so. Dhanush is the shining light of this average creation.