BOTTOM LINE
Tiring Action Drama With Few Thrills
OUR RATING
2.25/5
CENSOR
‘U/A’ Certified, 2h 39m
What Is the Film About?
Surya (Vishal) and Rajiv (Arya) are childhood friends, but they have a rivalry going on whenever they compete with each other. They are trained by Bharat (Prakash Raj), Rajiv’s father who believes Surya is a naturally gifted policeman than his son.
What happens when Rajiv takes the wrong route in life? How Surya comes into Rajiv’s life unexpectedly, rekindling the old rivalry, and where it ends is the movie’s basic storyline.
Performances
Vishal and Arya are well cast for the respective roles. On paper Arya has a meatier role, playing the anti-hero. The part has scope for crowd-pleasing moments. However, Arya fails in doing so. It is mainly due to weak writing more than anything else.
Vishal playing the righteous hero part is well within his zone and delivers. He has a romantic track, emotional moments, dances and fights like a typical star. He excels in all of them.
Both, Vishal and Arya, are equally balanced and it doesn’t look like one is dominating the other anywhere.
Analysis
Anand Shankar directs Enemy. It is another attempt in his zone. He attempts a larger than life action epic with a unique core element. In Enemy’s case, it is friends turned foes.
The opening segment of the movie is well done. The whole childhood episode sets up the movie brilliantly. A couple of episodes involving ‘Photographic Memory’ are thrillingly done. The one where Surya shares his thoughts is particularly impressive.
The movie then moves to the present and we are back to normal commercial stuff. The hero introduction and the subsequent entertainment stuff is on predictable lines. The former is passable, but the latter is weak.
Enemy gains momentum again with the arrival of the enemy. The whole pacemaker sequence is neatly executed with all the thrills in place. It is fresh on-screen and also ups the ante for the meet between the protagonist and antagonist.
The interval, therefore, raises the expectations on the second half even though it’s done normally without a big bang.
The second half starts well with the confrontation between Vishal and Arya. However, what is also clear is that smartness seen previously is gone. Enemy veers into a dumb commercial zone with the antics of Arya.
What happens next and the reaction of Arya to it further takes things on the dumber route. It wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the backstory of Arya’s character Rajiv. For such a high profile assassin what he does is pretty basic and stupid.
And then the director unleashes his inner Christopher Nolan and serves us The Dark Night redux in Enemy. All of a sudden Vishal is the Batman and Arya becomes the joker. The entire pre-climax and climax are xerox copies of the classic Hollywood. Only here there is no energy or thrill.
The whole thing drags to a predictable end. The dialogues are poor and the pacing doesn’t help the cause either. The action between the two is decent, though.
On the whole, Enemy starts well and delivers moderate thrills in the first half. The second half nosedives after a point and it never recovers. It wastes the potential of an engaging action thriller. Still, give it a try if you like the genre and don’t mind some recycled stuff.
Mamta Mohandas & Others?
The heroines have small roles in the movie which is all about the male leads. Among the two, Mamta Mohandas is better even if it’s a smaller part. Mrinali just disappears after the initial sequences.
Thambi Ramaiah once again gets a humorously dramatic part. It is right down his alley and he delivers. Prakash Raj in a brief appearance is impactful. The kids playing one younger version of the leads are good. The rest of the cast is forgetful as most of the focus is elsewhere.
Music and Other Departments?
S Thaman provides the music to the film whereas Sam CS gives the background score. The former is alright with a song registering. The latter is effective even though it is loud. The cinematography by. RD Rajasekhar is neat. There is a grand and slick appeal for the most part. The editing could have been better. The writing is weak for an action thriller where is a huge emphasis on drama.
Highlights?
Story
Vishal-Arya
Thrilling Moments In First Half
Drawbacks?
Lengthy
Slow Pace
Writing
Pre-climax
Climax
Alternative Take
The whole pre-climax and climax need to be rewritten with a different angle. The focus on personal life would be a start.
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, In parts
Will You Recommend It?
Yes with huge reservations
Enemy Telugu Movie Review by Siddartha Toleti
