In 1997, John Wagner and Vince Locke published their superb graphic novel A History of Violence: it was the story of an apparently regular guy, a small town Michigan cafe owner, whose unexpectedly accomplished defence of his family during an attempted robbery hints at a dark past which eventually turns out to involve mob entanglements. In 2005, David Cronenberg adapted the novel into the splendid Viggo Mortensen vehicle of the same name, which – Aragorn aside – may represent Mortensen’s finest hour. Now, this new Tamil version has broken several box office records and, at two hours 40 minutes runtime, has plenty of scope to expand on its source material – especially in the 18-certificate “uncut” version which has just entered cinemas.
The film opens with the small town of Theog in the snowbound western Himalayas which is under attack by a feisty CGI hyena that has managed to get into the local school playground. One man steps forward: local cafe owner Parthiban (mononymic star Vijay), and handily bests the slavering beast. The hyena shenanigans, however, do not replace but merely precede the badass cafe robbery triumph.
But please don’t ask why anyone would be shocked that a man who can take down a rampaging out-of-control hyena in hand-to-claw combat can also face down a few human robbers – it simply isn’t that kind of story-world. The incident with the hyena is there to signal that you are entering a world of spectacle, of non-stop set-pieces and ever-more climactic showdowns. Leave your irrelevant thoughts about logic at the door and instead enjoy some physically impossible car chases, bone-crunching fight scenes and hundreds of mobsters singing and dancing in unison, all set to one of the silliest and most pleasurable soundtracks this side of Paul Oakenfold’s splendid work on Swordfish.
Directed with verve and enthusiasm by 37-year-old former bank employee Lokesh Kanagaraj, who moved into directing after winning a short film competition, the influence of the likes of Quentin Tarantino on all of this is very much evident. Indeed, like Tarantino, Kanagaraj has announced his intention to quit directing after completing 10 films. On this evidence, Kanagaraj’s retirement so soon would be a shame.
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