RRR (2022)
Tagline: Nope
(Action, Drama, The British Empire Used to Be Giant) [PG-13]
Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating, but likely would have landed a PG-13 rating due to some of the violence. Of course, if this was the 80s it would have been rated PG.
Bheem, forget about these filthy maggots, it’s time we cut the head off the snake, let’s go!
This one takes us back to the 1920s when the British had tons of territory. A girl named Malli is taken from a small tribe that is peaceful but very dedicated to it’s their people. Komaram Bheem seeks to find Malli who he considers a sister but is distracted by Jennifer who is very kind to him and doesn’t view the natives as servants like the other British do. Jennifer just happens to live at the mansion where Malli is being raised by governor Scott Buxton and his wife Catherine. Komaram meets Alluri Sitarama Raju when the two save a small child after a train wreck and become friends, but Alluri Sitarama Raju is a cop that works for the British government and it doesn’t take long before their intentions collide.
I think the most important thing to note here is that this movie made me want to buy suspenders. No, just kidding. This movie is beautifully shot and the quality is way up there with a few exceptions. The cinematography is pretty mind-blowing and I really enjoyed a lot of the score. I will say that the few Bollywood clips I have seen have always been pretty outlandish and over the top. That kind of stuff always piques my curiosity but I never got around to watching a full movie till now. Some of the scenes in this match that style, but it’s over 3 hours long and we get a lot of dialog that evens things out in case you are the type of person that doesn’t want to see all action all the time. The setup in this movie is very good, but it takes nearly 2 hours to get there, so be patient. The payoff is worth it.
Acting wise we get N.T. Rama Rao Jr. as Komaram Bheem. I am clearly not familiar with his other work, but he outstanding in this showing pretty much every range of emotion possible. In the dubbed version of this, he is referred to as “The King Of The Jungle” which was pretty interesting. Ram Charan Teja is also extremely good in this as Alluri Sitarama Raju. Alison Doody is extremely terrifying in this as Catherine Buxton. She also surprisingly doesn’t look like she’s aged much since her role as Elsa in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. Ray Stevenson shows up as Scott Buxton and is also convincingly brutal in this role. Stevenson is probably best known for playing Volstagg in THOR. The dude is super versatile. The main cast rounds out with Olivia Morris playing Jennifer. She got this role back in 2019 but has only been in movies released in 2022.
The CGI in some sections is rough. The tiger scene in particular in some shots looked sub-par when compared to the quality of the rest of the film. If you are wondering how epic a CGI tiger “can” look, watch LIFE OF PI. In This doesn’t mean we don’t get some great shots involving CGI, particularly in one crazy battle at the mansion.
This is essentially a period piece giving us a “what if” situation, but for me, it was a hard watch that started out on a whimsical note and gets more and more serious and brutal as it goes along. There is a prolonged whipping and torture scene that adds to the story but could have been cut down quite a bit and been just as effective. Having said that, I didn’t get bored at all and the fact that it covers a male friendship that is about as manly as it gets without being sexual was an anti-woke bonus.
With a mix of drama and over-the-top action sequences has a bit of something for mass audiences that can handle a bit of eastern disregard for people that are easily snapped in half like stale bread. And when I say over the top, I mean, over the freaking top. This movie makes everything in the FAST AND THE FURIOUS saga look like it completely obeys the laws of physics. There are several scenes that could have been shortened or cut altogether. I get that it’s Bollywood, but the dance scene at the end is full-blown comedy that really doesn’t fit. It would be like ending THE GLADIATOR with the cast doing a full flash mob dance act to “Time Warp”. Meh, at least that ending lightens things up again.
This one gets a 5 out of 7.
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