(Alert: This review contains spoilers)
Shakti Soundar Rajan’s Captain has Radhakrishnan Parthiban’s Iravin Nizhal syndrome. Both, in the good and the bad way. The two allured the audience with their innovative ideas even before their release.
For instance, Iravin Nizhal was marketed as the world’s first single-shot, non-linear film and Captain is called Tamil Cinema’s first creature-based feature. That’s good but beyond this conceptual novelty, the films lack the strength to give an immersive experience to the audience.
The story revolves around Indian army Captain Vetri Selvan (Arya) and his team who are tasked to enter a restricted area in a forest called ‘Sector 42’ and unravel the mystery around the inexplicable deaths of previous teams that had visited the site. The team, along with Keerthi (Simran), a research scientist discovers that Minotaur (alien-like creatures) is the reason behind the mishap and they are on a mission to destroy them. Will they put up a brave fight? Or will they succumb to the extraterrestrials?
The film has interesting elements. It touches upon eco-activism, alien invasion, the fictitious characteristics associated with it, and also delves into the fundamentals of trust in friendships.
However, for a film that aims to be an Indian version of Hollywood’s Alien or Predator, Captain is the result of convenient writing with a dearth of action, thrills and A-level visual effects.
For instance, before the interval, the team is surrounded by hundreds of Minotaur. And you might be curious to know what happens next. Once the second half starts, they cut back to the military base camp with none of the team members injured. How did they get back, am I not supposed to know? I’m sorry I was hungry and went to grab the popcorn but I was back in time. A cliffhanger you hooked us with before the intermission that has no explanation when we wanted to know more about, is a huge turn off.
Aishwarya Lekshmi’s love for Arya in Captain reminded me of Mrunal Thakur’s love for Dulquer Salmaan in Sita Ramam. In both cases, the heroines love the lonely orphaned army men, one out of sympathy or the other out of gratitude. Why can't we love our army men for simply being themselves?
With templatized emotional scenes, love tracks, situational humour, action sequences and some interesting plot twists, Captain is a passable film.
The Arya-starrer is running in cinemas now.
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