Beast

Beast (2022)

Written and Directed by: Nelson
Starring: Vijay, Pooja Hegde 

Usually Nelson's both the films play in a certain territory - they don't take themselves seriously, and though they have a "plot" per se, the entire focus is on the quirky treatment. With Beast, it's the same - they never take themselves seriously and this time I wish they did a bit. Because at least in Kolamavu Kokila and Doctor, the film has a wider scope and range, there is a lot of movement, plenty of characters and though they play in the zone of comedy, there are moments of drama. In Beast, even in the moments of drama, they take it lightly either with exaggerated action or with jokes. I didn't mind watching the film, I had some fun, but the issue was that I was never even slightly invested in the film and the conflict. It felt so superficial. I liked how they introduced the character with the opening sequence, but the entire mall episode felt like it could've been a sequence at max and not a big chunk of the film. 

The action was shot in a very stylistic way, especially the opening sequence, but as the film goes on, some of them were a bit too blatant. I liked the stretch where the terrorist joins the crowd and gets to know all the insider stuff, and goes back. I wish there were more interesting sequences like this. After having watched an entire show like Money Heist, set in a similar setting, all of this felt a bit too normal. Also, I think that since it's a Vijay film, the expectations from the film is different. If this was a 5 crore film without a lot of action, I think it'd have been a kickass film. Since this was mounted on such a huge scale with a star like Vijay, the film automatically has the burden of having to be emotionally satisfying. Having said this, I thoroughly enjoyed Vijay's performance. He was so charming and fun to watch.