Commando 3 Review {2.5/5} & Review Rating
Vidyut Jammwal has carved a niche for himself thanks to his death-defying stunts and his films which are mostly of the action genre. He’s popularly known as the ‘Commando’ actor as he been a part of both the COMMANDO films. And now he’s back with COMMANDO 3, which like its predecessor promises lot of action, entertainment and patriotism. So does COMMANDO 3 manage to give the audiences a paisa-vasool time? Or does it fail to impress? Let’s analyse.
COMMANDO 3 is the story of a secret agent in a race against time to save his country. In Mumbai, two young kids – Usman and Omar – are arrested along with their mentor, Subhan after a tip-off. It is revealed that Umar and Omar’s real names were Rakesh and Amit respectively and they converted to Islam after watching provocative propaganda videos of Buraq Ansari (Gulshan Devaiah). Buraq is someone with no record and even his face is covered in his videos. Hence, the Indian intelligence is unaware about his identity and name. Realizing that he’s planning a major terrorist attack in India and that the festival period is coming up, the senior intelligence official Roy (Rajesh Tailang) asks his most trusted and brave officer, Karanveer Singh Dogra (Vidyut Jammwal), to handle the case. Karanveer finds out that the video and currency notes found in the houses of Usman, Omar and Subhan were sourced from London. Roy meanwhile realizes that Subhan talked about 9/11 attack repeatedly and it means that the attack in India will take place on November 9 or 9/11 in other words and incidentally, it’s the day of Diwali. With only 33 days to go for Diwali, Karanveer is urgently sent to London to track down Buraq. He’s helped in this mission by Bhavana Reddy (Adah Sharma) who is now no longer corrupt but still in love with Karanveer. In London, they are provided local help by two British Intelligence agents, Mallika Sood (Angira Dhar) and Armaan Akhtar (Sumeet Thakur). After carefully going through a lot of suspects, the foursome finally manage to find out Buraq’s identity and also that he runs a restaurant. Not just that, they also discover that he is divorced from his wife, Zahira (Feryna Wazheir) and that he loves his son Abeer (Atharva Vishwakarma) immensely. Karanveer hence goes after his son and takes him in his custody, along with Zahira, who is aware of Buraq’s activities and hence agrees to be a witness. Buraq is so enraged by these turn of events that he decides to advance the date of attack to catch the Indians unawares. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
Darius Yarmil and Junaid Wasi's story is clichéd and ordinary. But Darius Yarmil and Junaid Wasi's screenplay is where they bring some novelty in terms of character sketch, twists and turns etc. that keeps the interest going. However, it should have been consistently entertaining from start to finish for a better impact. Darius Yarmil and Junaid Wasi's dialogues are poor. A film like this ought to have one-liners that should have ideally packed a punch. Sadly, the dialogues here are strictly okay and even quite poor at places.
Aditya Datt's direction is neat and he handles it in such a way that the masses will be able to enjoy and more importantly, comprehend what’s going on. A few of the scenes are deftly handled. The sequence where Karanveer and his colleagues are tracking down Buraq while in a parallel sequence, Buraq is hunting down Karanveer is very nicely done. The romantic track is hardly there and that’s good as no time is wasted with the focus being firmly on the story. On the flipside, the beginning portions are not at all interesting and even in the second half, it takes time for the film to pick up. Many developments are too unconvincing and difficult to digest. Some questions remained unanswered till the very end. No back story of Buraq is given and audiences never come to know how he became such a dreaded terrorist, that too by escaping the radar of the intelligence. It also remained unclear what exactly did Buraq tell in his videos that the youth got brainwashed to the extent that some Hindus turned towards Islam. A few snippets of this is shown but it hardly makes for a convincing watch.
Commando 3 | Public Review | Vidyut Jammwal | Adah Sharma | Angira Dhar | First Day First Show
COMMANDO 3 doesn’t start on a great note. The beginning portions seem a bit slow and not that engaging. Vidyut Jammwal’s entry brings the much-needed action in the film. The interrogation scene, though nice, again slows down the film. It’s only when the drama shifts to London that the film gets really interesting. The manner in which Karanveer and his colleagues manage to track down Buraq is interesting. A scene to watch out for is when Buraq is watching Karanveer’s video on a news channel and gets a sudden jolt! The intermission point, though filmy and beaten to death, arrests attention. Post-interval portions are when the film again slides down. The interest level drops and an important sequence is inspired from the classic Hollywood film THE DARK KNIGHT [2008]. Thankfully, the last 30 minutes is quite entertaining and massy. It is also very convenient but the target audience – the single screen viewers – will surely lap it up since the makers give a great message here on Hindu-Muslim unity.
COMMANDO 3 belongs to Vidyut Jammwal – no two doubts on that! His acting is nothing great as such but he manages to handle the film on his shoulders. And he does action in adequate doses and that’s what audiences will be expecting the most from him. His act in the finale will be greeted with whistles and claps! Adah Sharma repeats her act from COMMANDO 2 and is quite likeable. Her humour quotient is less this time as compared to the second part but fans of Bhavana Reddy won’t be disappointed. Angira Dhar is great as the no-nonsense cop and underplays her part. Both the heroines get to do their share of action and it looks authentic. Gulshan Devaiah is menacing and scary as the villain. Watch out for how his eyes convey so much! Special mention should also go to his British accent – it’s quite nicely done! Anil George (Momin) is wasted and it’s amusing to see him doing similar roles repeatedly. His character disappears suddenly which is quite weird. Rajesh Tailang is dependable. Sumeet Thakur has a fine screen presence. Feryna Wazheir gets to play a lovely character and does justice. Atharva Vishwakarma makes his presence felt with his expressions and he makes sure he doesn’t go overboard. Virendra Saxena (Subhan’s father) and the actors playing Subhan, Omar/Amit, Usman/Rakesh, Inspector Tambe and Zaytun are fine.
Music has no scope. 'Tera Baap Aaya' is relegated in the background and works well in the film. 'Main Woh Raat Hoon' too plays in the background but doesn’t register. 'Akhiyaan Milavanga' and 'Iraade Kar Buland' are missing from the film. Saurabh Bhalerao's background score is racy and exhilarating.
Mark Hamilton's cinematography is captivating, especially in the action scenes. Andy Long Stunt Team Ltd, Allan Amin and K Ravi Verma's action is quite hardcore and violent. But the stunts by the actors make for a fine watch. Juhi Talmaki's production design is neat. Sandeep Kurup's editing could have been tighter in some scenes.
On the whole, COMMANDO 3 is a decent action entertainer that works because of the action sequences, social message and some paisa-vasool scenes. It arrives sans any competition and hence, has chances to work in the mass centres.
