ROCKY HANDSOME - Movie Review

Rocky Handsome is directed by Nishikant Kamat and it stars John Abraham, Shruti Haasan and Nishikant Kamat. The first half takes a while to pick up pace. The story is being narrated but not much depth detail is provided but what keeps you keen on watching is the presence of John Abraham. The strong built figure with little words and more expression that do the talking. He eventually lets loose and his true identity gets revealed. Pre-interval is a decent watch but needed more within the build up as it lacked the high intensity that the trailer itself portrayed. The second half is much more action packed and the story compliments the action better. John Abraham is taken out of his shell and he demolishes those in sight. The bone crunching and bloody scenes as well as John Abraham, manage to save this film.

POSITIVES

• The biggest appreciation from this film was John Abraham and the action sequences. It all seemed believable and enjoyable. The anger rage and pain buried within John Abraham's character is given the freedom to walk in and raise hell, which it exactly does and the action does justice to the film. The action is slick and attractive, John nails that really well in portraying a Hollywood kind of representation in violence.
• John Abraham’s character as well as the character of Nishikant both combines well in saving this film. Both these characters perform their respective roles well but John does it with finesse. John unsurprisingly manages to carry the burden of the film on his shoulders and allows his actions and acting do the talking. Nishikant, being the director of the movie and the villain does impress in ensuring there is more tension built up in this movie but his acting needs more work, but what he manages to portray was impressive enough. 
• The screenplay despite being less striking from the way it was implemented on screen, the story was still interesting. It just needed more of an impact and this would have been achieved from more creativity within the scripting process. But the story plot keeps you involved and that allows the thrilling encounters to build up amongst those involved on screen. 
• Another positive would be the dance item numbers that bring a bit of a sexy and glamorous attraction to a tense film that is mostly male dominated. But what the directors manage to do is to interlink the item songs along with the progress of the film to continue and not halt. The action never stops, we still see the story continuing and this was notable to not distract the attention away completely from the film to just having a song performance in a club. The background scoring of the film deserves credit for adding a bit more of a touch to the scenes in making it bit more theatrical.

NEGATIVES

• I was disappointed with the screenplay as I felt it needed more creativity towards this suspenseful movie. The cinematography is strong in ensuring the tension remains to a certain extent. But with such impressive on screen action, the script should and could have been much better. There were scenes that had no implication towards the next scene, it seemed as they were unnecessarily inputted and this could have been swapped for more build up of John Abraham is set to do next.  
•  The script also had loopholes; there is a back-story with John Abraham and Shruti Haasan. Without revealing the plot of their relationship, the question that can be asked is why did things turn out the way they did? What were the reasons behind such actions that were taken? This was neglected and it needed to be given more of a meaning as that part of the story pays a heavy importance to the character of John Abraham. Also some action scenes, John Abraham is shooting with the same pistol but how many bullets can it hold? The gun seems like never ending and it crosses your mind in one particular scene, as we never saw him changing it.

CAST

• JOHN ABRAHAM - John Abraham seems to be the savior for this film, his on screen presence is fitting with the action that gives us blood and gruesome violence. He brings with him the walking tall well-trained fighter, not only saving those in the film but also saving the film itself from being a disaster. Apart from the action and fight sequences, John Abraham does well in representing emotion through his eyes, which speaks many words towards what he is going through even though it does not get revealed during that particular moment until in the latter stages of the movie where the back-story of his emotions are mentioned.
• NISHIKANT KAMAT - He was impressive playing one of the villains in the film as well as being the director of the movie. Yes, fellow actors who have carried out villain roles in other films could have accomplished this villain character much better. But from his acting, we are given glimpses that he fits in but still does need more acting support in nurturing him for future work. As for the directional aspects, could he have done a better job if he focused completely on the directing and less on the acting? It was good but more of a dominant outcome could have made this film better.

RATING 

Overall, I would rate Rocky Handsome 3/5 stars, I had high expectations from this film as the trailers were exciting but the film lacked the effectiveness that is associated with an action film. It needed more of a creative storyline, which is evidently missing but does not become too disastrous as John Abraham and his action scenes prove to be the strongest support. The violence is gruesome and in-detail too, the action is coordinated really well to make it a pleasure to watch on screen. The acting was powerful from John as there were less dialogues but more emotions on screen to ensure tension gets built up, ready to explode when the time comes. This film is a one time watch, action fans will enjoy this one as it gives good fist to fist and weapon violence, there will be blood and a lot of it but Rocky Handsome was not scripted strongly enough. 

KAPOOR & SONS (Since 1921) - Movie Review

Kapoor & Sons (since 1921) is directed by Shakun Batra, produced by Karan Johar and the star-studded cast includes Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak, Rajat Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan & Alia Bhatt. The film is a family drama that keeps you tangled in so you get to witness the drama unfolding of the family that does not have everything as 'perfect'. But what makes this film 'perfect' is the creativity within the script, direction and the surprising acting performances. 

POSITIVES

• The storyline is predictable, as an audience member you hope that this expectable family drama does not become cliché, you walk in expecting something different and that is exactly what we get. We get a well-directed film that allows this movie to be a praiseworthy watch. The director showcases the family ties quite well with a bit of laughter, drama, seriousness, hatred, tragedy. A well-compiled film that juggles much more than what you expect.
• As for the script, the scenes and dialogues were well penned, bringing in a variety of emotions to keep you fastened in the drama. The randomness in the film does not distract, it helps to make the concept a moving one. Credit needs to be given to the actors, as there are hardly any distractions in terms of over the top, fake and overly exaggerated acting. The screenplay maintains momentum consistently. The combination of a good script and fantastic directional creativity, lures the viewers in to the family situation, making you feel so glued in to this household. 
• The acting was exciting by all involved, each actor played their roles with finesse; they look believable and show more realism as the story-required sincerity due to the subject matter. The characters are suitable together; it looks like a perfect family in a drama-indulged situation. 
• The film does maintain pace, the first half is sprinkled with laughter and humor as well the seriousness of the past between the families members gets added in. This is carried out exceedingly well by the director who manages to fit it all in and manipulates these sub-genres pretty good. The second half becomes much more serious with problems getting much more deeper and escalating. 

NEGATIVES

• Not much can be picked out from the negative aspects, but if something that did irritate me to some extent was the fact that not enough emphasis was portrayed to the past, we are given touches upon the situations that occurred in the past but due to the nature of the script juggling many elements together, less significance was given to what was the main reasoning for the family arguing and remaining less connected amongst each other. It does not pave too much of a withdrawal, but it is quite evident at times and fingers can be pointed out to this missing.  

CAST

• SIDHARTH MALHOTRA (Arjun) - Playing the younger son, he is shown as the lazy one and less involved, even shown as the one who is last to be told things because of his nature. He still brings in the attention in the scenes despite playing side by side to Rahul who is the older brother. Sidharth manages to leave his mark well on screen. I did feel in one particular scene, when he has the serious one to one scene full of anger with his mum; he was lacking the persona of an angry character. It was good but not great, that is one negative I noticed in his acting, but overall he does justice to the character. 

• ALIA BHATT (Tia) - A cute bubbly character, does not pull the strings in bringing the family together, but sticks around adding a bit of romance to the family situation. She is lively and helps to bring some happiness to the film and keeps the film story to divert from being totally family orientated and adds a bit of love and live life type of feel to it. 
• FAWAD KHAN (Rahul) - Fawad plays a strong character, he is screen sharing with Sidharth but manages to overtake with his superb acting, a fine performer, adding the grumpy and serious brother role to the film as well as the go-to-son character that tries to put things together. He is a slick groomed novelist who manages to provide a strong performance with confidence. 
• RISHI KAPOOR (Amarjeet) - An elderly old man full of make up, but his role is a bright spark in this film as he brings full of joy and smiles, through his dialogues in particular. He has given the humor in the serious film, manages to pull strings in trying to keep everyone together. You will not fail to laugh at all when seeing him on screen; majority of his role is going to keep you smiling and will miss him dearly when he is not in the scenes. 
• RATNA PATHAK (Mom) - Plays a good mother figure, standing tall against any arguments, she sparks the arguments and makes the scenes dramatic.
• RAJAT KAPOOR (Dad) - A struggle father and husband who has hidden lies and struggling to keep the family financially stable. Shows emotions of struggle, frustration and hope as well as disloyalty and lost. It was good watching his fights with his wife on screen and not being able to keep all of the family together and happy. It showed how much he has tired. 

RATING

Overall I would rate Kapoor & Sons 4/5. The film portrays a bit of everything, making you wanting to be a part of the family, they had it all and kept you as an audience, tagging along with all that occurred on screen. Acting was done exceptionally well, the script was predictable but the way it was nurtured on screen by the writer and director, they made this film a fantastic film to watch. It could have been better if more emphasis was put upon the past situations so it is delivered to the viewers much more than what it already was. The film was good family drama film, after a long time such genre film has impressed and it is something that I would be able to go and watch again.