Cobra
Tamil (Theatres)
Director: Ajay Gnanamuthu
Cast: Vikram, Srinidhi Shetty, Roshan Mathew, Irfan Pathan
2/5
Cobra’ plays out like a brain storming session, where the director and his assistants are shuffling through ideas that sound cool, in the hopes of finding a narrative. Vikram plays Mathi, a mathematical genius who uses his knowledge in the subject to execute high profile murders, but the ease with which he carries out his plans suggest the use of magic more than Math.
Director Ajay Gnanamuthu incorporates all the familiar tropes of a Vikram film in this long, exhaustive flick. Vikram wears multiple avatars in the film. Each get up change is intended to create a sense of awe among the audience but they have no impact as we have already seen movies like ‘Dasavatharam’ (2008) and ‘Dhoom 2’ (2006). Speaking of ‘Dhoom’, the big twist in the film bears close resemblance to the twist in Dhoom 3 (2015).
While the first half is filled with unremarkable assassinations, an unnecessary romantic track and an incoherant investigative episode, the second half is bogged down by exhaustive mellow drama.
Vikram delivers what you expect of him. He gets to explore a deranged mind and multiple personalities in the role of Mathi, He does this effortlessly and leaves you wanting more from him at the end. The most notable scene is an interrogation in the second half. It plays out like a homage to the interrogation scene in ‘Anniyan’ (2005), but it surpasses the original in many ways.
Like in the ‘KGF’ franchise, Srinidhi Shetty plays an insignificant female lead yet. The only motivation of her character Bhavana is to get married to Mathi (Vikram).
Irfan Pathan would make a great model but his acting skills are almost non existent. Pathan plays one of the weakest written characters in the film, an interpole agent who looks up to an undergraduate Math student for advice.
Roshan Mathew tries hard to bring novelty and nuance to the role of a stereotypical corporate villain but the script only allows him kiss women and spray bullets at people.
The tone at which the film is pitched does not allow A R Rahman to display his musical prowess. The title track is catchy but the rest of the album is forgettable.