Tiger 3 Film Review

Tiger 3

Director: Maneesh Sharma
Year: 2023
Duration: 155 minutes
Music: Pritam Chakraborty
Rating: 6.0

Ah, it is good to know that America is not the only country that makes ridiculous CGI enhanced action films that drain your IQ faster than a hiccup. Yes, there is Bollywood which has jumped into this idiocy that matches American films. There is not an iota of intelligence to be found anywhere in this film. Look as hard as you want. You won't find it. But and this but comes with great reluctance, it is within the realm of stupid rather entertaining - more like a Wile e Coyote film than anything close to reality - but it is so over the top that you can't help but respect the film makers for just saying what the hell. Sure, have one of them jump off a bridge with an army shooting at him and his partner jumps out of a helicopter flying above after aiming it at the bad guys on the bridge to blow up - catch his friend in mid-air and open a parachute and then the one who jumped drops into the water 100-feet below. Must happen all the time. The entire action set-piece in which Salman Khan escapes from a Pakistani prison by somehow blowing up the wall, machine gunning down the guards, making his way to the roof where he is rescued by Shahrukh Khan on a cable car - this in the middle of the desert - then shooting the hinges of the cable car that drops them on the ground to slide to the bridge where an army is waiting to kill them should be mandatory watching in film school. Anyone who says cool, should be kicked out immediately. But it is Tiger. And this is what you expect. It suffers from sequelitis where you keep having to make it more outrageous.

This is the third in the series as part of the YRF Spy Universe - that is Yash Raj - the other two films are War (2019) and Pathaan (2023). That was Pathaan saving Salman Khan. War stars Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff (not to be confused with this Tiger). The Tiger films are brainless fun with a ton of absurd action. I quite enjoy them on some primitive level. As a quick tutorial - in the first one Ek Tha Tiger (2012) Salman Khan is an Indian agent who during his mission meets a Pakistani agent in the form of the lovely Katrina Kaif and they have to team up to save the day. And of course, fall in love. Who wouldn't fall in love with Katrina. Clearly a no no in the world of spies especially between India and Pakistan. So, they elope at the end of the film and go live in Austria. In Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) they are called to go back into service and they save a group of nurses being held hostage in Iraq and kill all the terrorists. And go back home to Austria. Six years have passed and Tiger is called back for another mission.

He leaves his wife and child behind and goes into Taliban territory to rescue another agent - Gopi - who had been in the first Tiger film. He manages to do so with some derring-do as he motorcycles streets, rooftops and mountains - fortunately for him the Taliban are much better at beating people with sticks and taking rights away from women than shooting. But Gopi tells him that there is a double agent - yup - it is Zoya (Katrina). That has to be bad news. He follows her around Austria but finds nothing till he is then sent to Moscow to save another agent - and what the hell - a killer in a helmet is after them - and it is Zoya! And she tries to kill him. That can't be good for a marriage.

But of course, she has a reason to kill him - their son is being held by the bad guys and Tiger never puts his socks in the hamper. They have to join together to first steal a briefcase in Istanbul - where Zoya has a nifty kung fu fight with another female - with both only in towels. It is an evil ex-Pakistani agent (Emraan Hashmi) behind all of this and his real plan is to overthrow the civilian government of Pakistan and kill the female Prime Minister (Simran). And only Tiger, Zoya and a small team can stop him. Against the Pakistani army. What could be easier. There are only two musical interludes - one in Austria that feels never-ending and one over the end credits that was shot in the wonderful city of Cappadocia Turkey.