Vivegam (Tamil, 2017)

Ajith makes a feisty comeback after almost two years. Marked improvements on his fitness is visible as he engages in full-blooded stunts like never before. He also looks in pristine shape for the character and the shirtless avatar he dons towards the end is greeted with deafening reactions from his crazed fans already pampered with oodles of motivational punch lines throughout the movie!

Siva has worked pretty hard with his team to blow away the concerns of repetition on this third outing with Ajith by going completely off his usual radar and going all-in to provide an ultimate action movie experience. All the preconceived notions about his style of making crowd pleasing films with strong family values at the core, is put to rest for good measure and ventures into uncharted territory with respect to his repertoire.

Anirudh spins up another impressive aural experience, complete with lingering songs and brilliantly orchestrated pieces of background scores peppered over the intense movie moments that Ajith and Siva’s team bring to life on screen. Just more proof that given the right canvas and ample freedom, he undoubtedly is the most happening music composer in the current scene of Tamil Cinema.

Vivegam definitely owes a good chunk of its runtime and imminent laurels to the Stunt choreography that reach far and deep into the resources at hand to produce a mind blowing sequences that capture the attention of fans and neutrals alike! The terrific opening scene sets the pace while the back to back sword and nunchak fights re-ignites the fire in the second half – just to name a few of the countless moments!

While Siva’s decision to go away from his patented style talks volumes about his capabilities, he does seem to miss the trick by going with an in-the-face attitude for characters handling adverse situations. This concoction of stylized environments and loud characters is tough to digest – a covert operation control room filled with over the top conversations and a finale having the lead lady mouth the lyrics for a high voltage song, to name a few.

We hate to say that despite being a welcome addition to up the style quotient, the various futuristic gadgets and visual effects overlays are again an overdose and tends to drown the grandiose visuals already captured on camera. It appears to cover up for a floundering storyline and veers off into an unrealistic video game like experience.