Commando 2 movie review: Vidyut Jammwal is back as the capable Commando Karan but does the movie justify his jaw-droppingly agile moves?
Commando 2 movie cast: Vidyut Jammwal, Freddy Daruwala, Esha Gupta, Adah Sharma, Shefali Shah, Suhail Nayyar, Adil Hussain
Commando 2 movie director: Deven Bhojani
Commando 2 movie rating: 1.5
India is reeling under the assault of those black-hearted criminals who amass black money overseas. How to get it back, so that all those lakhs of crores can be utilised for the good of the country? Why, get Commando Karan back in action. And cue the scriptwriters to do their national duty, and sling in catch-phrases like ‘demonitisation’, and, yes, ‘Swacchh Bharat’.
The sequel of Commando, called Commando 2: The Black Money Trail, gives Vidyut Jammwal large tracts of the film to flex his awe-inspiring biceps, and other equally spectacular muscles, in the service of his ‘desh’. He’s also given a bunch of unlikely companions, in the shape of the most shapely Esha Gupta, the played-for-laughs Adah Sharma, the mandatory computer geek, and the lean mean cop with dubious loyalty (Freddy Daruwala).
What is missing is a plot, muscular enough to service a racy, pacy actioner.
Commando 2 takes us to global hotspots in its tracking of the ‘kaala-dhan’ and the well-dressed criminals who handle the cash, but is hampered by a lack of freshness.
A vast barn-like structure bristling with machines and busy-looking officials where our hero is given instructions? Borrowed from a hundred Hollywood flicks.
Overhead aerial shots on cars zooming down highways? Loads of ‘em.
A politico comprised by a corrupt family member? Right there.
Femme-fatales who look parlour ready in their body hugging gowns? Present and counting.
Mandatory code-breaking geek? Haan bhai haan.
Action sequences bloated by loud background music? This is really where Bollywood loses the game: we do not need, repeat after me, swelling orchestral sounds to help us watch cars smashing, guns blasting, bad guys facing off the good ‘uns.
Do you not trust your actors who are working so hard to give us those thrills and spills? Why tie them up in tiresome slo-mo, when they move as fast as lightening?
The jaw-droppingly agile Jammwal does what is required, but he needs better stunts. The other men are good with their fists too, but why have such lame ‘firangi’ baddies? As for the ladies, Gupta is made to narrow her eyes all the time, and Sharma who starts off quite funny as a shopaholic ditsy cop, becomes repetitive.
And nothing can be worse for an out-and-out-actioner than to be shackled by sarkaari slogans.
-Indian Express
