No, not that one. This Action
Jackson is from Bollywood. It is in no way related to the 1988 film with
Carl Weathers. Not a remake, not a sequel and there is no one named Jackson
in it. I guess the name just sounded cool. It does though have action in
it. A lot of it. An insane amount of it. The director Prabhu Deva must have
over dosed on John Wick which came out the same year and Wanted which came
out some years before and thought to himself, I can make a crazier ass action
film with more killing than those films. And he sets out to do it. This film
is bonkers. Not bonkers in the fun Bollywood over the top way but bonkers
in the "I can't believe I am still watching this movie". It is quite
dreadful and yet I found it hypnotic like staring at a cobra ready to strike
me. I kept thinking this is awful and yet kept watching. Our brain can work
in funny ways. When it finally hits the halfway mark, you are sort of glad
you did because it feeds us three action set pieces on acid that are (for
the Bollywood I used to know) shockingly violent. And totally ridiculous.
CGI enhanced and exaggerated like a comic book hero. Which is perhaps the
way to view it. Oh, and it's a comedy.
When I read a brief capsule summary on this, I was intrigued. An Indian
hitman based in Bangkok discovers he has a lookalike in Mumbai and needs
his help. I thought that had possibilities - dark, noirish, betrayals, suspenseful.
Little did I suspect an idiotic broad comedy and an absurd romantic premise
- at least for the first half. In the second half if anyone ever gets that
far it turns into an idiotic action film with no comedy. That was left on
the floor with the oodles of dead bodies from various forms of violence. It
begins with a woman in the ever badly fated parking garage when a dozen men
come for her - the head guy in black, the minions in red suits and ties. They
chase her out to a plaza where no people are and then on to a highway where
eventually they shoot her in the head and then she gets run over. I guess
she isn't the heroine of the film. Cut to the present.
Ajay Devgn, a big star in Bollywood for decades who like many of the older
male stars had to stay relevant by working those pectorals out to amazing
effect, has two roles and early on the film switches back and forth. In one
AJ is a waiter and in the other Vishi is a goon. A real legit goon. He collects
money for the mob and beats the crap out of those who don't pay and in one
early scene takes on a roomful of other goons and wipes the floor with them
- knocking them into the next room, through walls and onto the ceiling. His
credentials are firmly established. He also helps people when the need arises.
A softie at heart. And he constantly slaps his friend Moosa (Kunaal Roy Kapur)
in the face which passes for some reason as comedy. A woman Kushi (Sonaksi
Sinha) sees him naked and her luck changes to the good. She gets it into her
head to see him naked again. Which passes for comedy. She of course falls
in love. "You know I beat up people for a living and drink?". You did. The
love of a good woman.
So, if he isn't the hitman it must be . . . the gentle sweet waiter? Yup.
Once the hitman for a crime organization in Bangkok headed by Xavier, the
man with two color eyes. He was a merciless killer for the syndicate, killing
entire rooms of men without batting an eye. But things went screwy when Xavier's
loony sister Marina decides she needs to have AJ and nothing will get in her
way. Literally. If she sees him with a woman, she bashes her head into the
wall. In one scene she kicks five men out of the window for bad service. From
the top of a skyscraper. It is a bravura performance from Manasvi Mamgai.
She out vamps every vamp in Bollywood history. She takes the V out of vamp
and stabs you in the back with it. She was Miss India and is gorgeous and
seductive and very bad. I was rooting for her. Sadly, Manasvi has made only
this one film. Maybe she was too hot to touch after it.
It turns out though that AJ too has fallen in love with Anusha (Yami Gautam
- Bhoot Police) and she has turned him into a good guy. Sweet, considerate.
Marina doesn't play that game and it turns into a blood bath for the next
hour. The two lookalikes come together and as lookalikes tend to do switch
places. It didn't work all that well for Hailey Mills and it doesn't here.
If a film should not have had any musical numbers, this is it. But it does.
A bunch. Most of it is highly forgettable but Gangster Baby is pretty great.
And Devgn may be the worst dancer in Bollywood. It is like watching a turtle
try and tap dance.
