Neerja (2016)

Director: Ram Madhvani

Story: Saiwyn Quadras, Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi

Music: Vishal Khurana

Time: 116 minutes

Bottom-line: An amazing film about a true hero

Ram Madhvani’s biopic of Neerja Bhanot (7 September 1963 – 5 September 1986) is one of the best films made in India in the last few years. In a time when Indians worship actors and cricket players, Neerja is the story of one of the unsung heroes of India – an air hostess who saved over 350 passengers in a plane hijack, before being shot herself.

“Her loyalties to the passengers of the aircraft in distress will forever be a lasting tribute to the finest qualities of the human spirit.” – Ashok Charka citation.

The film begins with Neerja (Kapoor) partying in her house. Her mother, Rama (Azmi) shows her worry regarding Neerja’s job as a flight attendant, but the latter insists on pursuing it. She is driven to the airport by her boyfriend, who gives her a gift for her upcoming birthday. The PanAm flight takes off from Mumbai and lands in Karachi for transit, where four terrorists, disguised as Libyan officers, hijack the plane. Neerja immediately warns the American pilots to escape, who flee to the terminal. Demanding a pilot, the terrorists murder an Indian-American as the officers try to negotiate. Watch how Neerja almost single-handedly saves 359 out of 379 passengers in this memorable biopic.

 

Kapoor as Neerja (left) and the actual
Neerja Bhanot 

The film is shown from Neerja’s point of view, in the sense that importance is also given to her family background and personal life: how she started off as a model, and left her first husband who never appreciated her and often blamed her for not knowing how to cook and clean. While this might throw us off the main theme, I felt this track was necessary because it gives a more human feel to an otherwise standard terrorist movie. After all, when we are talking about such a heroic moment it is worth focussing a lot more on the lead character. The ending is really emotional; if you don’t feel the urge to salute along with the rest of the crew when they see the last of Neerja, then something is wrong with you.

Sonam Kapoor steals the show, hands down. While many may have been sceptical about her playing such a powerful character, Kapoor silenced them all with this magnificent performance. It was an inspirational performance in the sense that it gave me a really strong respect for the actual Neerja Bhanot, and I’m sure it will to everyone who hasn’t heard of this hero before. Shabana Azmi plays a small but crucial role – that of Neerja’s mother. She showcases some superb acting all through the movie, and her speech in the end is in particular, quite moving.

 

Azmi as Rama Bhanot

The story elements with the terrorists may or may not have been exaggerated but it was quite compact – 116 minutes without much melodrama. The text that flows across the screen just before the closing credits lets us know that Neerja was honoured for her bravery from the governments of three countries: India, Pakistan and USA. The Neerja Bhanot Award is given in her honour.

Watch this movie simply because it talks about a real hero… the act of Neerja can never and will never be forgotten by anyone, and hats off to Ram Madhvani for bringing it to the big screen!

My Rating: 3.5/5

The Nice Guys (2016)

Director: Shane Black

Story: Anthony Bagarozzi and Shane Black

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling

Music: John Ottman, David Buckley

Time: 116 minutes

Bottom-line: One of the best scripts in the last year or two!

Shane Black’s The Nice Guys brings together an unlikely duo: Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, and believe me, they are by far, the funniest pair of 2016! The comedy thriller also features Angourie Rice, Margaret Qualley and Kim Basinger in the supporting roles. Whether or not the story wins your admiration, the chemistry between the leads will certainly make it worth a watch!

You’re a detective, and two days into the case you realise the only thing that has changed is that the sun went down twice.

1977, LA: The story begins with a car crash that kills a porn star Misty Mountains. The scene then shifts to Private Detective Holland March (Gosling), who is approached by Mrs. Glenn, the aunt of Misty who claims to have seen her niece alive two days after the crash. March is greedy, and uses every opportunity he can to make a little extra money. He accepts the case because a missing girl called Amelia (Qualley) is also involved. Meanwhile we see that Amelia has approached enforcer Jack Healy (Crowe) to protect her, before disappearing. Healy confronts March, only to be later attacked in his house by two thugs who also enquire about Amelia’s whereabouts. So for the sake of her safety, Healy decides to team up with March (and March’s daughter Holly (Rice)) to find Amelia before the thugs do. How their adventure turns out, and what the connection is between her and Misty is what the film is about.

 

(From left) Crowe as Healy, Gosling as March and Rice as Holly

The script is fast-paced, thrilling but most importantly, genuinely and effectively humorous. Every scene throws a few one-liners (few memorable ones too!) or some comic element for us to enjoy, and rarely are they clichéd or boring. The voiceovers and other dialogues – with superb voice modulation and body language too – make this is really good comedy. The thrills and plot twists are present around every corner too – there are fistfights, shootouts, murders, people jumping off buildings and what not! The scene at the party where March gets drunk and accidentally discovers something is one of the funniest sequences in the film. The script really impressed me with its blend of laughs and thrills.

The interesting lead combination is the first thing that caught my attention. Both Crowe and Gosling play characters who are roughly the same age as the actors themselves. The former is “locked and loaded”: the grim-looking, tough enforcer who is focussed on getting a job well done, and the latter is cunning, smart and lazy, not to forget “charmed and dangerous”. The drama caused by their misunderstandings, stupidity and nature of their somewhat polar opposite characters is what drives the film! Crowe and Gosling deserve praise; the humour wouldn’t have been half as fun without their acting skills. Gosling, in particular, with his incredibly funny expressions of fear and shock, stands out. Another commendable performance is by Angourie Rice, who seems to play the sanest person among the characters!

The period settings, costumes and the cinematography all contribute to the on-screen presentation. But what really makes The Nice Guys a smashing entertainer – a step ahead - (although the box office collections don’t reflect this) is the chemistry between the leads and the biting script.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 91%

Don't Breathe (2016)

Director: Fede Alvarez

Story: Rodo Sayagues, Fede Alvarez

Cast: Jane Levy, Dylan Minette, Daniel Zovatto, Stephen Lang

Music: Roque Baños

Time: 88 minutes

Bottom-line: Simple and effective... but nothing great

Horror movies without supernatural elements have always interested me and the positive word of mouth made me watch this horror drama Don’t Breathe. Taking place predominantly over one night, the film is the story of a botched robbery. The film isn’t scary, but sure is creepy, and of course, violent. The simplicity of the story makes it possible for a totally believable horror film, but takes care not to make it too clichéd.

Three robbers: Alex (Minette), Rocky (Levy) and Money (Zovatto) make money by breaking into houses. They sell their items but the buyer doesn’t give them a fair price; Rocky needs the money to take her child to California, away from her neglectful mother. Money receives a tip that there is an old war veteran in Detroit who has a six-figure settlement in his house. So they decide to break-in, and as they spy on him, they also find out that the old man is blind. So they plan the heist at two in the morning…but once they are inside the house, they realise that the old man is not so vulnerable. Soon the three of them are fearing for their own lives!

 

(From left) Zovatto as Money, Levy as Rocky
and Minette as Alex

The score is quite chilling and like in most horror movies, contributes to the scares. The acting isn’t that great… but Levy’s performance seems to be best of the four – look out for the scene where she is trapped by the Blind Man. Lang barely has 10 lines to speak but his character is created in such a way that his silence is what makes him creepy! When we see him walking towards the camera with a gun in hand, alert to even the slightest squeak or whisper, you as a viewer are even scared to breathe (and hence the name!).   

 

Lang as The Blind Man

The film delivers its short bursts of thrills mainly due to surprise elements. The camerawork is smartly done – with slow motion just when required – to create those sudden appearances, especially of the Blind Man, and to show just enough gore. The story is quite simple: it is just three people entering a house and getting caught inside, but surprisingly, every bit of shock is genuine. There are one or two scenes that will shake you but other than that there is a fair amount of blood to look out for. The plot twists are well-timed, and the ending may not tie everything up neatly but then again, that may have been the plan (sequel perhaps?).

The camerawork, score and the plot twists are effective, and the story is fairly simple and decent too. It is a watch-for-fun movie and I wouldn’t really recommend it for people looking for a proper horror flick; it is chilling, but not exactly "scary".

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 87%

Finding Dory (2016)

Director: Andrew Stanton
Story: Andrew Stanton
Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence 
Music: Thomas Newman
Time: 97 minutes
Bottom-line: Wonderful experience, but doesn’t have the same effect as Finding Nemo 

13 years after the magic of Finding Nemo, here comes the much waited sequel that reunites the adorable characters of Nemo, Marlin and Dory. Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks reprise their vocal roles as Dory and Marlin, while Rolence voices Nemo. The supporting cast includes Ed O’ Neill, Eugene Levy and Ty Burrell.

The story picks off one year after the events of Finding Nemo, and Dory (DeGeneres) has become like family to Marlin (Brooks) and his son Nemo (Rolence). One day during Nemo’s class, Dory suddenly has a flashback that convinces she has parents. She is determined to mind them, and considering the help that Dory offered in finding Nemo, the clownfish pair agrees to help her out. The trio experience a whole new set of adventures now, from escaping a giant squid, to being taken to a quarantine section, to Dory meeting her childhood friends and a seven-tentacled octopus Hank (O’Neill) who agrees to help Dory in return for her tag (that shows she belongs in the aquarium). Whether or not Dory is able to find her parents with all these obstacles, not to forget her short-term memory loss, is what the film is about.

Marlin, Nemo and Dory

As expected, Finding Dory has an amazing blend of humour, sentiment, adventure and drama. However, I loved Finding Nemo so much that I have sort of fixed it as the benchmark for animation films, and this one doesn’t reach that mark. The lead characters are, of course, adorable and funny, and the character of Hank – with his cunning deals and short temper – adds a new and exciting flavour to the proceedings of the story. But for some reason I wasn’t as empathetic towards the characters as I was in the prequel; the vicarious feelings of elation and sadness aren’t quite as powerful.

Hank, with Dory

The story has a lot of plot twists, especially a series of them fired one after another in rapid succession in the last half hour. At times I felt the story moved too fast, but the action and humour compensated for it. This film has a big part of the story happening outside the ocean, so that fascination that I got on seeing the ocean life in Finding Nemo wasn’t there either. The vocal work is splendid, and Ellen DeGeneres deserves a lot of praise. The supporting cast, especially Burrell (who plays a beluga whale) and O’Neill have done well too.

I know I have made a lot of comparisons in this review but that is to tell two things: one, don’t expect this to be as breathtaking as Finding Nemo, and two, as a sequel, this film deserves credit for coming close to being as good! The story is exciting and thrilling, there is a sufficient of humour, and of course, you can watch the film just to revisit the characters of Nemo, Marlin and Dory! Watch the film with your family, and get ready to have wonderful ride!

My Rating: 3.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%