Spyder movie review: Mahesh Babu, SJ Suryah shine in an underwhelming thriller
Mahesh Babu, even in a slightly over-the-top portrayal, is a treat to watch. He’s a man of few words and uses brain over his fists. Here’s our movie review.
Spyder
Director: AR Murugadoss
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Rakul Preet Singh, SJ Suryah and Bharath
Rating: 2/5
AR Murugadoss’s Spyder, at best, is a big-budget action thriller featuring two noteworthy performances from Mahesh Babu and SJ Suryah. At no point of time is it a spy thriller, something the film has been boasting about ever since it was announced.
In fact, it’s an insult to the spy genre if the film continues to market itself as a spy thriller because nothing portrayed in the film is even remotely connected to what a spy would do, and it doesn’t include tapping into someone’s phone calls.
At the heart of Spyder, there’s a strong humanistic angle and it works to some extent, thanks to a moving but shocking flashback of Suryah as a kid. He’s raised in a cemetery and the cry of mourning is his lullaby. Having been raised in such an environment, surrounded by the dead, he suffers from Sadistic Personality Disorder, and it explains his killing streak. He enjoys inflicting pain on others and relishes the experience of seeing them cry. It’s a solid motive for a serial killer but the way it’s handled is slightly underwhelming. Suryah is terrific as the menacing psycho killer but his character could have been better written.
Mahesh Babu, even in a slightly over-the-top portrayal, is a treat to watch. He’s a man of few words and uses brain over his fists. Of course, he knows when to flex his muscles and shines particularly in the climax action scene. Talking about action, which was once sold as one of the highlights of the film, the much hyped roller-coaster action sequence is a joke. In the VFX department, the film sucks big time and it’s shameful that a film made on a budget of Rs.125 crore couldn’t deliver decent visuals.
Harris Jayaraj’s songs disappoint but his background score is top notch. The rest of the cast has very little to contribute. For instance, Rakul Preet is undoubtedly the most annoying factor in Spyder. She plays Charlie, a doctor, and her character is silly and boring. The romance, which could have been easily done away with, makes it a painful experience to sit through.
Spyder is not great but it’s definitely watchable for Mahesh Babu, Suryah and the touching humanistic angle.
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