Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! It wasn’t like Tiger 2! I really really hated Tiger 2! It also wasn’t exactly like Tiger 1, but it was similarly light and love filled instead of dark and fear filled (blech Tiger 2! Blech! And you are allow to disagree with my opinion).
Really, the worst thing I can say about it is that Kat has gone a little heavy on the fillers and her face doesn’t look like her face as much as it used to. But who cares, she still did a great job! And the Kat-Salman chemistry continues to have that special thing about it. Oh, and she got SOOOOO many big hero sequences, as many as Salman if not more. I know we all love Kat as action heroine, and this was a great one for that. Action, smart, and big hearted. Perfect.
Second worst thing would be that Emraan only goes fully shirtless once. But there’s no really character reason for him to be shirtless EVER, so I guess I will accept it. He threw that one in for the fans.
Third worst thing, which is more of a worst/best kind of thing, is that Salman was heavily stunt-doubled. I stayed through the credits and there were way more stunt doubles listed than I am used to. But it was handled fairly seamlessly, I truly believed he (or rather, his character) was doing all the things. So I guess I am pro-CGI in that it enabled the fight scenes to be good? But still anti-CGI in that I wish Salman would just take roles he could actually do without artificial assistance.
Best thing, like I said, it was lead by love. Everyone, including the villain, has deeply personal and relatable reasons for the things they do. No one is doing anything for abstractions, no blind patriotism, no blind hate, none of that. It’s all about individual people and their individual pain.
Oh, and it’s well-written and directed. Adi did the story (duh, he always does for the big movies) and Maneesh showed his Fan action scene chops and has some spectacular set pieces. Most importantly, the pacing just plows along. I think it’s better paced than Pathaan. Similar big action movie kind of thing, but there were fewer moments when I was thinking “just get to the point already!”
Only two songs, again like Pathaan one in the middle and one end credits, but they are both well done and work with the Salman-Kat chemistry. Oh, and there is a Shahrukh cameo and it is FABULOUS.
So yeah, go see it! Be ready to scream and boo and all those things. And also to be that pedantic person watching the credits going “really YRF? You are still using your inhouse VFX? You are too good for Red Chillies?”
