Commando 3 movie review: Vidyut Jammwal-starrer is full on action, but low on script
Commando 3 movie review: Vidyut Jammwal’s latest action film is a winner when it comes to slick and sleek action but loses bad due to its shoddy script.
Commando 3
Cast: Vidyut Jammwal, Gulshan Devaiah, Adah Sharma, Angira Dhar
Director: Aditya Datt
Making an action film is no rocket science, perhaps explaining their deluge in Bollywood. However, only a few stay true to the genre and that’s where Commando 3 deserves credit – it hits the spot with its action. The kicks, punches, back-flips, smooth landing and hand-to-hand combat scenes look as clean and real as they can be.
Once you are done with that, Commando 3 is on a slippery slope.
The Vidyut Jamvwal starrer, with Adah Sharma and Angira Dhar as leading ladies and Gulshan Deviah as the bad guy, eventually leaves you with this visceral need to pull out your hair. Let down by a pedestrian narrative, terrible writing and overdramatized situations, the film defies all logic.
Watch Commando 3 trailer here:
Director Aditya Datt goes overboard as he tries to pack as many emotions as possible in one film. While the action keeps you hooked, chest-thumping jingoism is off-putting and annoying.
Commando 3 begins with police chasing down three brainwashed youngsters (two of them having willingly converted to Islam) who are set to execute a ‘badaa kaam’ on the orders of Islamist radical, Buraq Ansari (Gulshan Devaiah). He operates from London but keeps his identity a secret, choosing to connect with his comrades in India via recorded tapes. To track him down and avert the impending terrorist attack on India, the country sends its best commando, Karan Singh Dogra (Vidyut Jammwal) to London on an undercover mission. Accompanying him is encounter specialist Bhavana Reddy (Adah Sharma), with Mallika Sood (Angira Dhar) supporting him in the UK along with Arhaan (Sumeet Thakur). All three works with the British Intelligence (BI).
A cat-and-mouse game follows, giving a distinct impression that the terror organization is far more agile than the intelligence agencies. The film goes out of its way to show the BI and Military Intelligence as inefficient, a portrayal that borders on ridiculous.
The story by Darius Yarmil and Junaid Wasi needed more conviction and a deeper understanding. Numerous references to cases of hate crimes, cow slaughter, Kashmir situation and Ayodhya conflict to explain the brewing resentment among Muslims. However, the mastermind who is planning to wreak havoc in India is never given a back-story to explain his actions.
Even Karan, despite his many failures to capture the bad guy, always shows up alone or with the two women when out to get him. Maybe if he had chosen to take some forces along, the film and our predicament could have ended earlier.
Commando 3 is all about its action, and there is little else to keep you engaged. The action is not for the weak-hearted either -- it’s brutal, gory, and gruesome with blood all over it.
The saving grace is Vidyut’s gravity-defying action sequences. Given that he’s professionally trained in martial arts, the action sequences and stunts look real and raw. Not to forget there’s a five-minute introduction scene to mark the hero’s entry. Only thing that’s unsettling is his wooden expressions that he carries throughout the film.
Adah and Angira get to kick butt prove their action acumen. While Angira looks natural and comfortable as the no-nonsense officer, Adah softens it up with some dry humour and her one-liners.
Gulshan Devaiah, despite a good track record as the villain on OTT platforms, fizzles out here and doesn’t even come close to being the menacing and cruel character that Buraq is expected to be. Though in the first few scenes, you breathe a sigh of relief as makers got someone with an accurate accent but the relief is short-lived. As the story progresses, he resorts to overacting as well.
All this goes on for two hours and twenty minutes! With the story and the message that the director intended to convey, it could have been easily wrapped up in a crisp hour and a half, but brevity doesn’t seem to be the strong point here. Only time when you feel adrenaline rush is when bones break and the background score amps up. Those are the rare moments when you feel Commando 3 is watchable.
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