Agent Vinod

Agent Vinod was an attempt which was wasted by weak direction and poor script. It focused more on the production values rather than content of the film.

Pakistan ISI agent is planning to implant bomb in the heart of New Delhi. Only one man , can stop this –Agent Vinod(Saif Ali Khan). Time is clicking and he must swing into action with help of another Pakistani agent ( Kareena Kapoor) , who was wrongly accused in a London Blast some time back, to save the city before the terrorists turn it into ruins.

I have been an immense admirer of Director Sriram Raghavan's early work(Ek Haseena Thi , Johnny Gaddar) but I was disappointed big time with this flick. His style of direction is more of thriller with twist in the end which is clearly missing here. Even loose screenplay couldn't salvage the film from being boredom. Cinematography was enthralling. The film has been shot in amazing parts of the world. Coming to performances , Saif Ali Khan is decent but not effective. Even Kareena was just about okay. Music is very nice with "Pungi" song being the best among others.

Overall , I was not satisfied with the end result. After making this film for 2 years , the team should have focused more on script and direction rather than spending huge amount of money on the production. Disappointing- 2/5

I mean, seriously, HOW could SO many people downright LOATHE this film? Yes, it's a departure from director Sriram Raghavan's past work. Yes, Kareena's character Iram is (the only character) badly written. Yes, Vinod may rely too much on luck at times, but that's the thing, isn't it?

It's a MOVIE, a DREAM of the director, where ANYTHING can happen. And, to that respect, Agent Vinod is actually logical, and makes sense, something rare in Indian action flicks, since most are just rip-offs of South Indian actioners, with a single hero sending 20-30 baddies flying with one, hand movement, or whatever it is.

The action is frantically energetic, but still controlled and realistic. Agent Vinod has many great gunfights, and feels a lot like an action- espionage video game more than a film. Which isn't bad.

Nonetheless, Agent Vinod has great characters, and a nice plot, within all that action. Saif Ali Khan is sharp as RAW agent Vinod, and the supporting cast just add even more to the entire film by their performances as the numerous villains of Agent Vinod. Ram Kapoor and Adil Hussain, especially, are great.

There are only a few problems I had with Agent Vinod. The underwritten and unnecessary female part of Kareena, leading to lack of the Saif- Kareena chemistry (which seemed to be the only thing that the dumb people watching this film cared about), and the songs are mediocre, I guess. Otherwise, you've got a pretty bombastic, explosive, yet smart espionage thriller that SHOULD have been the flagship Indian secret agent bonanza at the box office, if only the consumers would have cared less for masala, and more for good cinema, that's wholly entertaining as well as smart.

Stylish actors,wonderful locations,lots of side characters,wayward storyline all these sum up the context of Agent Vinod.Mark,I used only two positive things,which are actually the fairly good things in the movie,whereas the reason you should avoid it,is at the behest of the negative points.The movie seems as if cut-by-cut summary of 14 different movies(because of 14 different locations) with none of them providing apt understanding of the storyline and you end up asking yourself-"What was that?","Who was that?","Why was that?". Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor did justice to their character still the storyline & some poor editing made a mess of the movie.Songs were good still not upto the mark. All in all Agent Vinod is a stylish,sleek movie beyond a good and sensible storyline.If you find STYLE dominating SUBSTANCE as good,go for it,else its far far better to avoid it.

One of my friends said that Agent Vinod is the remake of old Agent Vinod (Available on YouTube). I was not convinced, but when I came out of the theater I started believing it. Really? Sriram Raghavan? After Ek Hasina Thi and Johny Gaddar, Agent Vinod? I still can't believe that Saif and Sriram come up with this utterly disorganized film.

Agent Vinod is something that Saif wanted to do with Kurbaan,(Thank god they haven't repeated any love making act, may be Saif wanted to concentrate more on acting skills.) The main problem of the film is screenplay. Screenplay throws out sequences without any explanation.You can't connect with this film. It feels like writers were stoned and when they were high they started writing Agent Vinod. This film shows you glimpse of 12 or more countries with irrelevant characters that supposed to be most wanted criminals.Every character is flat and shallow. I can't even say 'underwritten'. There are ton of questions that could really make you sick and dizzy. Couple of dialogues is witty but you heard it in first trailer itself. Sriram tried different things like to relate the sequence with Charlie Chaplin's films and to synchronies the fight sequence with silent song but it doesn't hold your attention because your mind continuously tries to figure out what the hell is going on.

Too many characters but no one gets enough time to act. Saif is confused, he tries to carry the film but the plot (?) is so weak that I would have watched Don 2 again. Why the hell did editor freeze some random frames? To make an impression on viewer's mind?

The good thing about agent Vinod is that it's not in 3D. This is not an action movie, it just a movie where someone kills someone, that's it. The most idiotic thing about the film is that a bullet is sufficient to kill Vinod but then, again we have to face lame action moves. Why was there Rajat Kapoor and Gulshan Grover? They come and go, they do nothing.But why did even writers come up with those characters.

Agent Vinod is not an intelligent, smart film and it doesn't come up with anything new. This spy has license to boredom.

If movie-making were to be likened to cookery, how do you best describe the recipe for 'Agent Vinod'? Take 2 cups of 1970's James Bond DVD ready-mix with 1 cup of Jason Bourne and mix them well and let it cook on a bollywood drama flame. Now add finely chopped Pakistan spice and heaps of terror-plot masala with item-songs to taste. Cook it till distributors are pleased. Garnish with glamor. Serves many!

Well, one might say that this is not the first time that Bollywood has drawn inspiration from the West. But the question is: What was the point in making this film? Seems like "Saifeena", err, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor wanted another movie together! Well who knows! After all, it was the Nawab's own Illuminati Films producing it.

'Agent Vinod' packs in too much for a storyline. Predictably, it begins with an Af-Pak plot against India and a portable nuke. When his colleague (Ravi Kishan) dies after transmitting a message about a mysterious '242', Vinod (Saif) is sent in.

Over the next couple of hours, the audience gets sneak peek into international locations as Agent Vinod offers you the cheapest spectator tickets to Russia, Latvia, Morocco and Somalia, erstwhile untouched by Bollywood.

About the movie, never mind the numerous characters and plot twists. All that one can know after watching this movie is that Hindi seems to be the lingua franca of all slime balls around the world, including tiny countries in Europe. Interesting, huh!

While the main plot rolls on, there is Kareena Kapoor who plays doctor to Kazaan (Prem Chopra), one of the baddies. Soon, we learn that she is a Pakistani doctor called Iram who was wrongly implicated in an attack and presumed dead. Obviously, as in any film, Vinod & Iram get romantic and she soon joins him in his mission, which, for some strange reason requires her to perform a Mujra before high-profile baddies!

There is no need to bother about details as long as one knows that it had too many characters. After some time, one stops to care about them and what they are after. And all the while, you know what the climax is going to look like and how it would end.

Coming to the acting department, Saif may have evolved as an actor. But, barring a stunt or two, he offers nothing new. Kareena sleepwalks through her role. But, Adil Hussain stands out as the menacing Colonel. And then you have staple villains Gulshan Grover and Shahbaz Khan. And, Iranian-Swedish actress Maryam Zakaria peps up the oomph quotient. The rest is all about slick action.

Just like in James Bond, there is action, a crazed destructive plot, power mongers, one lone agent to save the world and some pretty faces. While the Bond inspiration is mostly limited to the earlier era or the golden age among 007 flicks, there is one element from the recent flicks, with a reference to a villainous conglomerate 'Zeus Group' not unlike Bond's 'Quantum'. And, no cool gadgetry from Q-department.

What spoils the show for 'Agent Vinod' is that the plot is way too confused. It is as if someone independently shot different segments in varied locations and sat down at the editing table to put them together. A tighter script could have surely helped.

True, 'Agent Vinod' has its flaws and the lead character is no James Bond. But still, it is not a movie you would regret watching. For one, benchmarking this with James Bond or Jason Bourne doesn't make sense these days. After all, Bond has lost the panache and Bourne feels the same, no matter which part of the series you are watching.

So, if you are a huge fan of Kareena or Saif or have nothing to do to kill time, 'Agent Vinod' is not bad for a pastime flick. Just don't expect too much from it!