Opening Doorz
“Celebrating Life”
Technically, the film is sound with the action scenes being first-rate. However, Siddharth Anand loses his grip on War by being generous with 36 extra minutes. Pankaj Kapur did the same mistake with Mausam with a run-time of 168 minutes!
By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | October 02, 2019
Rating: 3 / 5
The essence: The film is technically well-made, with first-rate action scenes. However, the plot becomes tedious, relying heavily on car and bike chases. Additionally, the loud background score during these tense moments overwhelms the brilliance of the action. Director Siddharth Anand loses control of War by adding an excessive 36 minutes to its runtime. This is reminiscent of Pankaj Kapur’s mistake with ‘Mausam’, which had a total duration of 168 minutes.
Not every movie needs to have a song inserted between scenes. Even though War has just two songs, they annoy and how. Siddharth Anand sews together a tight plot, and just when the bar of intensity has to be raised, in comes a Holi song. Where was the need, brother? Ditto post-interval when Vaani Kapoor is introduced as a pole dancer. At 156 minutes run time, War extends its time. Knock off the 10 minutes of extra fight time [just for jazz]; five minutes of the chase scenes, and another 20 minutes on the editing table, and War would have made the impact the team set out to have. Towards the end, the movie gets tedious, and the plot and twists are lost.
The Holi song was introduced to focus on Hrithik Roshan’s dancing. Of course, he is brilliant and a joy to watch, but why lean the focus on his dance when he is freaking setting the screen on fire with his action?
Kabir (Hrithik Roshan), an Indian soldier who was once the go-to operative for the armed forces, has gone rogue. He is now systematically targeting Indian dignitaries. Khalid (Tiger Shroff), who has been mentored by Kabir, is assigned the task of eliminating him. However, Khalid informs Colonel Luthra (Ashutosh Rana) that he first wants to understand why Kabir turned his back on his country. Thus begins the war between the two.
Hrithik Roshan is first-rate, with a Wild West look; he is slick and destructive. He lights up the screen with his sheer presence. I dare say, never has a Bollywood hero looked so hot on screen!
Tiger Shroff gets an entry reserved for established stars, and he justifies the move with his brilliant fight scenes. And when Hrithik and Tiger get together on screen, it’s like a Jason Statham-Mark Wahlberg thriller. Vaani Kapoor gets her standard Yashraj Film Time in a substandard role. Whatever happened to the brilliance of the girl we saw in Shudh Desi Romance?
Anupriya Goenka as Aditi, a female officer in Kabir’s team, is the woman who stands out. When she tells Kabir, in the presence of Khalid (on her wedding night after decoding the hard disk), that she would even now marry him if he just says yes, you can see the screen sizzle!
The film is technically well-made, with first-rate action scenes. However, the plot becomes tedious, relying heavily on car and bike chases. Additionally, the loud background score during these tense moments overwhelms the brilliance of the action. Director Siddharth Anand loses control of War by adding an excessive 36 minutes to its runtime. This is reminiscent of Pankaj Kapur’s mistake with Mausam, which had a total duration of 168 minutes.
If you are a Hrithik Roshan fan, then don’t miss this one. Ditto if Tiger Shroff sets your adrenaline rush.
CREDITS
Producer: Yashraj Films
Director: Siddharth Anand
Star Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Vaani Kapoor, Anupriya Goenka, Ashutosh Rana
Also Read: Kaabil Movie Review
