Review for COBRA:
•Language: Tamil
•Duration: 03 Hour 03 Minutes.
•Genre: Action Thriller.
•REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R
•POSITIVES:
1: DECENT STORYLINE.
2: PERFORMANCE OF VIKRAM
3: CINEMATOGRAPHY
4: MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE
5: VFX
6: ACTION SEQUENCES
7: MAKEUP
• NEGATIVES:
1: DIRECTION
2: SCREENPLAY
3: LENGTHY DURATION
4: BORING SCENES
5: WORST SECOND HALF
6: EDITING
•ONE WORD: This Cobra is less interesting and less engaging.
•STORY IDEA:
Madhie is an expert mathematician and lives in Chennai. Bhavana Menon who works as a college professor loves Madhur deeply but he will always keep avoiding her. Madhie has a secret identity of an assassin, he kills high-profile international persons using his mathematical prowess. An Interpol officer called Aslan is in charge of finding the assassin, soon he will find some information from a girl in Chennai who is also an expert in Maths. Later Aslan will come to know that the assassin is Tamilian and will land in India to find Madhie. Can Aslan find Madhie and why Madhie is doing all these killings is the rest of the story unfolding.
•ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES:
The film ‘Cobra’ is written and directed by R. Ajay Gnanamuthu.
For writing the dialogue along with the director Ajay Gnanamuthu the writers like Neelan K. Sekar, Kanna Sreevasthan, Azaruddin Alauddin, Innasi Pandiyan and Bharat Krishnamachari joined the team. The film is produced by S. S. Lalith Kumar under the production company of Seven Screen Studios. The film is distributed by Red Giant Movies and in Kerala the distribution is handled by Sree Gokulam Movies through E4 Entertainments and Dream Big Films. With a running time of three hours and three minutes, the film is currently running in theatres with a U/A Censor Certificate.
A lack of a good screenplay made the film Cobra hazardous. The script by several writers was very bad, it was not stable, the occurrences in the plot felt scattered, lack of continuity, and the complicated way of writing was confusing. The efforts behind this movie were incredible, the decent making, the performance of Vikram, quality visuals and impressive VFX were nicely implemented but the absence of a solid script had unfortunately killed all the hard work. When looking into the basic plotline of the film the elements which were added to the film were promising, it was having enough content. But when the storyline was executed into the screenplay a good gripping plot was spoiled by the careless writing. The last two previous movies of the director R. Ajay Gnanamuthu was nice and the two movies hit the box office. Those two movies had the backup of a concrete script and the genres were entirely different but his writings for Cobra don’t leave any bookmark of something new. It was sadly a mess of many boring repeating dramas with an unwanted length of three hours and three minutes.
I am still wondering why the director R. Ajay Gnanamuthu had gone for the film with an outstretched duration of three hours and three minutes. His making style was decent but the long duration of the film was making the viewing experience tedious. The second half felt very dragged, and also the exciting factors were less and the flashbacks were too dramatic. Sadly R. Ajay Gnanamuthu in the second half had lost his pace and momentum in the making. Many scenes were boring, and the lack of continuity between the scenes and the confusing way of storytelling was giving me an unexciting cinematic experience. The movie in the beginning had created a good initial impression, the killings with the use of mathematical theories were interesting. But slowly things started to get off balance when the movie showcased the unwanted dramas of romance and flashbacks. The romance in the film was average, and the romance between the hero and heroine was senseless. Soon after when the flashback was revealed the over-dramatic family relationship scene was testing my patience. I am sure that whoever watches Cobra needs an extra mindset to tolerate this lengthy duration, the worst screenplay will only make you tired and confused.
What made me more annoyed was the complicated way of writing, confusions were plenty and transparency was missing evident from the writing. The flashback scenes were supposed to create a big impact but the poor way of writing doesn’t make an influence. As a viewer, I was not able to connect with the flashbacks, it reminded me of many films and the emotions were not having feelings, and the sorrows and pain didn’t draw my attention. The sentiments were not having a life, the important scene like the brother’s sentimental scenes and the mother-son flashback was written and directed in a shoddy manner, with no proper emotions. The conflict between the important characters in the film was crucial, but how the writers and director had made those scenes will shock you, it was utterly disappointing. Those scenes were never established and produced well, and the feeling and emotions of brotherhood and revenge turned into a disaster, it was lifeless and unexciting. Next are the backstories, usually, the backstories are unfolded to give more clarity about the past, but in the film Cobra, the backstories will make you more confused. The continuity was missing when the movie began to flaunt the backstories, those scenes never helped to carry the movie forward, and the backstories had given additional doubts so the ultimate result was the boring scenes.
The characters in the film apart from Vikram were not written well, the villain character played by Roshan Mathew and the heroine character played by Srinidhi Shetty are the best examples of it. Roshan’s performance was fine but the character was supposed to create shades of negative touches here villain only uses loud noisy dialogues, gunshots and some phone calls for the fight, a tough fight between the hero and villain was missing throughout. The climax face-to-face scenes of the hero and villain were also average so the performance of Roshan Mathew holds the villain character from falling apart. Srinidhi Shetty’s character was exhausting, and the combination scene of Vikram and Srinidhi Shetty was reckoned to create some romance but nothing worked out. All their scenes felt forceful, as a viewer, I didn’t feel any kind of love, no emotional connection and their falling of love and the sorrows in their relationship felt tragic. The mother character played by Mia Geroge is also another example of the worst writing, her mother’s sentimental scenes were too filmy. Mirnalini Ravi’s character helps to make more confusion rather than giving a clear-cut idea, like I mentioned above she appears to do the backstories but her character was written in a lifeless manner.
The direction by Ajay Gnanamuthu had given me a mixed feeling. Maybe if he had concentrated more on the screenplay the movie could have been better. The hallucinations scenes in the film were extraordinary, director Ajay Gnanamuthu made those scenes brilliantly. The delusions and the imaginative thinking of the character made an impact and with the help of VFX and visuals, the scenes looked more vibrant. As a director, he had given the right instruction to Vikram on how to undertake the character, and the various character transformations and shades were implemented well. The use of Mathematical theories and equations for killing and solving crimes was unique, the first half was made quite interestingly by the director Ajay Gnanamuthu. The techniques used for killing, solving various mysteries and finding facts and the cat and mouse play of killer and cop were engaging, so the first half was decent except for the romantic scenes. The ending of the first half had a bang with a big interval twist and it was promising for something big, but the second half turned into an utter flop, and failed to do justice.
•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS:
The film has the casting of Vikram in the title role. Srinidhi Shetty, Irfan Pathan, K. S. Ravikumar and Roshan Mathew play prominent roles. Actors like Anandaraj, Robo Shankar, Miya George, Mirnalini Ravi and Meenakshi Govindarajan do the supporting roles.
Vikram’s performance is the major highlight of the film Vikram. He is the one who carried this boring movie on his shoulder. Due to the tiresome experience my mind was forcing me to leave the theatre before completing the film. But what made me sit and watch was the energetic performance of Vikram. His intense performance and the different characterization were the saving factors for Cobra, he tried his best and gave his all effort. The action sequences were stylish and the character shades and the different makeup looked gigantic. He also handled the emotional scene well, and all his hallucination scenes in the film were mind-blowing. Roshan Mathew did a good performance, his villain character was not that effective but his acting was sincere, the dialogue delivery had the right timing and the looks and expression came out well, but in some areas, his Tamil language was a mix of Malayalam touch. Srinidhi Shetty’s character and acting were poor, her expressions and the way she handled the emotional scene needed to be improved. Irfan Pathan’s acting was also unimpressive, the character Aslan was supposed to create an impact but the acting of Irfan Pathan didn’t suit the character well and his facial expression was miserable. Mirnalini Ravi did a fine job, her expressions and romance were impressive. Meenakshi Govindarajan as Judith Samson was interesting, her cool attitude, her way of speaking and her way of solving and finding maths solutions were matched for the situations. Sarjano Khalid did an excellent job, his acting was so good, his part was so crucial and without making mistakes he handled the character authentically with a realistic acting. His emotional scenes, the intense facial expressions and character shades and the romance with Mirnalini Ravi were impressive. Robo Shankar and K.S. Ravikumar did justice to their respective supporting characters with a decent performance. The performance of Anandaraj was stunning, if defined more it will be a spoiler but the way he acted and undertook the character will amuse you. Miya Geroge appears to do a cameo role and it was ok, and Johnny Vijay also did a notable performance as a police officer.
•MUSIC & BACKGROUND SCORE:
The musical work for the film is composed by the hitmaker A.R. Rahman which includes the background score. The soundtrack of the film ‘Cobra’ consists of three songs and the songs felt good. The song “Thumbi Thullal” is my favourite among the three songs. The song was released on 22 June 2020 and now it’s been two tears but still, whenever I hear it the vibe of the song gives me a pleasant feeling and it ranked among my favourite list. The classical instruments used in the song were beautifully arranged and the vocals of Shreya Ghoshal make the song more heart whelming. The same pattern of Rahman’s style is followed in the song but the song is extraordinary, the sound of the flute instrument towards the end of the song is purely magical. The lyrics of Vivek and Jithin Raj were notable and also the voice of Nakul Abhyankar suited well for the song. The song “Uyir Urugudhey” had some resemblance to the song “Thumbi Thullal”, the song travels on a smooth balance without making it as noisy. The lyrics of Thamari were meaningful and A. R. Rahman and Sreekanth Hariharan did a magnificent job to maintain the mood of the song. The violin notes in the song were superb and whoever played it had done a magnificent job. The song “Adheeraa” sung by Vagu Mazan and Thoughts for Now was fine. The rap lyrics and their portion are performed by Thoughts for Now and it was nice to hear. The energetic feel given by the song was superb and the electric instrumental voice was catchy. The song “Tharangini” was having some similarities with “Anbil Avan ” song of Vinnaithandi Varuvaayaa’ but the voice of Sarthak Kalyani felt lovely. The song “Yele Ilanchingamey” was melodious, and the lyrics by Pa. Vijay were showcasing the love of a mother. The brilliant sweet voice of Rakshita Suresh was spreading a good feeling of joy, it’s an underrated song in the soundtrack of “Cobra”.
The background score was impressive, for the action sequences and the crucial scenes were filled with some interesting tunes to grab our attention. The hallucination scene was perfectly balanced by some terrific background scores, those scenes with the acting of Vikram and with the background score and also the nice VFX the scenes had made a good impression. The flute instrument used in the song “Thumbi Thullal” was used for the romantic scene between Vikram and Srinidhi Shetty and it was so pleasant to hear, the feel of romance was overflowing.
•TECHNICAL ASPECTS:
The efforts and richness in the technicality made the film ‘Cobra’ visually appealing. The production design, cinematography, editing, colour grading, locations, make-up, stunts and VFX looked prominent and the movie guarantees a big visual treat for the viewers. The cinematography by Harish Kannan was attractive, and the camera movements during the action sequences were undertaken brilliantly. Therefore every action sequence in the film looked thrilling, and the visuals of the rain fight need to be mentioned separately, it was amazing. The various visuals and locations of Russia were elegantly matching for the script, and the beauty of Russia and its snow weather was shot appropriately according to the storyline. The close-up frames were nice, and the various character transformations of Vikram and their intense expression were shot rightly. The visuals of the song “Thumbi Thullal” was beautifully composed, and the aspects of marriage and its various functions were fitting to reality. The lighting methods in the film were good, the indoor shots had the perfect lighting and the wide-angle frames in the outdoor locations of Russia were pleasingly shot.
The editing of Bhuvan Srinivasan was dissatisfied , the stretched length of the film was making the movie boring. He should have advised the makers to trim the overall length of the film for a decent runtime. The editing techniques were fine, the intact cut and transition of the scene had a right flow and didn’t make any sort of mismatches in the viewing. The VFX was satisfying and the colour grading had given an additional vibrant feel to the screen. The makeup by PreethisheelSingh was extraordinary, and the way of different makeup done for the various character transformations of Vikram looked mind-blowing.
The terrific action sequences choreographed by Dhilip Subbarayan made a good impact on the film. The stunt sequences looked thrilling, and Vikram’s fighting style was exhilarating with some exciting moments. The car chase scenes, gunshots, blasts, rain fights and other action scenes were choreographed genuinely according to the situations in the plot. The rain fight sequences were the best, the fighting style of Vikram, the rain situations, and the risky way of fighting over the top of the billboard were nicely composed.
•CONCLUSION:
So overall the film Cobra had given me a disappointing and boring cinematic experience because of the worst script. The direction of R. Ajay Gnanamuthu was poor and didn’t make any impact. The total length of the film is too long and it will test your patience. The performance of Vikram was amazing and the film has good cinematography and VFX but still, the shoddy screenplay along with the weak second half and average direction will make your money and time worthless. So I won’t recommend the film Cobra to anyone and if you are a fan of Vikram you can take the tickets but better to watch with fewer expectations.
•VERDICT: BELOW AVERAGE
•RATING: 2/5
