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War 2 Movie Review & Rating: Rogue spy Kabir is back, and this time around, he has a bigger task cut out for him. Perhaps the most difficult, says his father-figure mentor Colonel Luthra, a description which turns out to be prophetic.
Yes, the task, to keep us glued to the screen, which is the solo ask of a fast-paced actioner, turns out to be not just difficult, but impossible. I’m sorry to report that War 2, the sixth instalment of the YRF Spy Universe, is nothing but a glossy snooze-fest.
Read War 2 review and release live updates: Full report here
Right from the entry, in which Kabir swings into a dojo-style mansion in Japan and scythes and punches his way towards his target, scattering scores of costumed extras around like confetti, I had a sinking feeling. The screen went blank. Like, not literally, but you know the way you zone out when you are confronted with a scene which is meant to be high-octane, and you find nothing new in it?
It’s not like Hrithik Roshan, In And As Agent Kabir, back from a long hiatus after the 2019 ‘War’, isn’t trying his best. One man, countless enemies. But, for the love of everything that is a cracking spy saga, couldn’t anyone have thought of at least one scene or sequence which doesn’t remind you of something you’ve seen before?
Those sword-waggling fighters, so Crouching Tiger, so Kill Bill. That computer-generated dog, snarling first, then snuggling up to Kabir, so John Wick. That dance-off, between Kabir and Vikram (NTR Jr), so very ‘War’, in which Tiger Shroff’s worshipful rookie matched steps with the senior spy. NTR Jr, positioned in the sequel as equal-stakes co-star, in an attempt to grab pan-India eyeballs, is no slouch on the dance-floor, but this is no ‘Naatu Naatu’, and though Hrithik is as limber as he has always been, there’s surprisingly little energy in the duo swirling-and-twirling.
Which is pretty much the problem with this soggy spy saga, which keeps inserting heavy-on-saccharine melodrama in between our heroes hanging from helicopters, arcing through the sky and ocean and snow, facing a hydra-headed enemy named Kalki, standing in for Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and a few others. I’m sure if Trump’s tariffs had come up in time, the US would find itself arrayed in this conclave.
I’m also sure NTR Jr missed his fizzy RRR co-star Ram Charan when swinging through the air, and Kiara Advani, playing the sprightly army woman Kavya, missed an actual fleshed-out role in this boys-and-their-toys flick. Anil Kapoor, looking fighting fit, gets a scene in which he shoots-and-scoots, perched behind the kind of monstrous machine-gun which reminds you of a scene in ‘Animal’. If nothing else, you can’t fault YRF films from piling reference upon reference, which you can spend time spotting.
I didn’t love the first ‘War’, but there were some flashes of freshness in there, with Hrithik making the most of his streaky-golden locks, the sun glinting on all the bronze and brawn. ‘War’ director Sidharth Anand course-corrected to find just the right sweet spot between silly-and-spoofy for ‘Pathan’, and combined with Shah Rukh Khan’s wounded swag (the phrase kintsugi comes up here too, spoiler alert) made that one so much fun.
War 2, directed by Ayan Mukherji, is so limp that you are left looking for zing. And that comes, fleetingly, in the glimpses we get of the next editions, one in which we have the return of our duo, and, in the other, wait for it, the advent of Bobby Deol-Alia Bhatt’s ‘Alpha’. Will that be the one?
War 2 movie cast: Hrithik Roshan, NTR Jr, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana, Anil Kapoor, Varun Badola
War 2 movie director: Ayan Mukerji
War 2 movie rating: 1.5 stars
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