Dish:
A Thalapathy Vijay film
Ingredients:
Opening action sequence: 1
Song right after the opening: 1
Family sentiments: As per director’s taste
Usual comic tropes: As per director’s taste
Politics: A pinch here…
Nostalgia: … a spoon there
Secret agent/soldier/policeman-turned-aam aadmi-turned either of them again: Sigh…
Songs: One too many
Heroines and friends/sidekicks as props: More the merrier
Yogi Babu: 1
Cameos: Subject to availability
Gore: As per director’s taste
Climax: There’s more to come
.
.
Fresh storyline: I am waiting!
Recipe:
Ah! Now that’s what it all boils down to. And that is where a chef like Lokesh Kanagaraj leaves his stamp.
It’s a fine line between a recipe for disaster or one for success, as far as Vijay movies are concerned. With The Greatest Of All Time (The G.O.A.T.), director Venkat Prabhu treads this line with AI as his balance pole. It does see him through much of the first half, but then the boon becomes his bane.
Vijay is at his usual charming self as M.S. Gandhi (a Special Anti-Terrorism Squad agent), with three friends – Sunil (Prashanth), (Kalyan) Prabhu Deva and Ajay (Ajmal Ameer) – as his gang, and Jayaram as their head, Nazeer, in Delhi. When he is not on a mission, he is a happy-go-lucky husband and father. Things turn tragic for Gandhi when a mission involving an adversary, Rajiv Menon (Mohan), comes back to haunt him while on a holiday with his family in Thailand.
Years later, a twist in Russia leads him to believe that things are finally looking up for him and his family. But he is proven horribly wrong. And this trigger-happy Gandhi is not the one to offer his other cheek to his enemies. More (predictable) twists follow, till the finale is set at the Chepauk Stadium, where M.S. Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings are taking on Mumbai Indians in an IPL match. Yes, you read it right.
The film may not go places, but it does take the viewer from Delhi to Thailand, back to India, to Chepauk Stadium, and finally to who-knows-where. It gets difficult to keep pace with the ever-changing locales, as it does with the resurrections.
There is hardly any back story to the gang of four SATS agents. Menon as the villain is unconvincing, as is the conflict between him and Gandhi. Consequently, the much-hyped face-off between Gandhi and Gandhi Jr falls flat.
Which brings us to the dollops of CGI used throughout the film, especially to bring to life Jeevan (Vijay as Gandhi Jr.). It will be hard to digest, even for a die-hard Thalapathy fan. While the de-aging evokes memories of a young, yesteryear Vijay, nostalgia alone cannot make up for some shoddy use of AI. And it’s not just with Jeevan, the climax, and some of the scenes abroad stick out like a sore thumb on the CGI canvas.
For a director whose filmography boasts of flicks like Maanadu, Chennai 600028 and Ajith-starrer Mankatha, Prabhu comes up short with The G.O.A.T. Despite Vijay’s star power, and some notable performances from Sneha (as Gandhi’s wife Anu), Prashanth and Prabhu Deva, the film struggles to hold itself together in the face of frequent predictable twists and turns, cliches and songs.
The G.O.A.T. is believed to be Vijay’s penultimate film. ‘Thalapathy 69’ is expected to be his last film, before he takes the political plunge. For his legions of fans, he is the GOAT, and so, this film is a celebration of sorts for them. But, Vijay as Jeevan in The G.O.A.T has given them a ray of hope. It’s not over until he says it’s over.
Film: The Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T.)
Language: Tamil
Director: Venkat Prabhu
Cast: Vijay, Sneha, Mohan, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva and others
Rating: 2.5/5
