harshad-d Reviews

Sucker Punch (2011)

Not a movie everyone would like

[7/10 · 27 March 2011]

There are movies which everyone loves, and then some which everyone hates. Sucker Punch cannot fall into either category-- its more like a film made by a geek for the geeks among us. From what you see in the opening sequence - the lead character being lead to the asylum - you get the feeling that this movie is done by a director who wanted to put in what he himself loved into the movie. The dark clouds, a very brooding arch with the name of the asylum on it, the stylized automobile...everything gives the scene a typical flavor. And you either get immediately attracted to it or you just get put off. Me, I was pulled magnetically!

The movie has everything a geek loves - there's Steampunk, there's Fantasy and there's Sci-Fi. Running through all this are the lead girls-with-big- guns-and-swords and the amazing fight sequences. Its a totally fun movie. But if you go in for the movie looking for a reason or method to the mayhem, then you will come out feeling confused, disappointed and duped. Its a movie to be enjoyed just for the way it IS. No hidden meanings to be expected, nothing to be deduced. Everything is served the way it is, and you have to enjoy it in that spirit. Don't treat the movie like Wine--looking for all the hidden flavors and subtleties - but treat it like a shot of Vodka - just take it for what it is, shut up and feel the kick! And one solid kick it is, with the lovely girls, skimpy skirts, big explosions, massive fight sequences and amazing CGI.

I went along with a non-geek friend and he didn't get it. But he found it entertaining. So before you go for the movie, think of what you are looking for.

Hisss (2010)

Amateur at best

[1/10 · 24 October 2010]

The movie tries hard--but falls flat on its face, right into a pile of rotten guts, like one particularly sick and unnecessary scene in the movie.

The premise is familiar, dated and even banal--a man (a desperate Jeff Doucette) suffering from a life-threatening disease and having only 6 months to live decides to find the 'nagmani' and gain immortality.

So he 'kidnaps' a cobra while it is engaged in an act of procreation and locks it up in a glass box, torturing it constantly by electrocution. The aim? Somehow the cobra would communicate with the nagin telepathically and bring her to it, thus allowing the man to force her to give up the nagmani for her lover snake's life.

Mallika Sherawat plays the nagin, and I have the impression that the movie was made solely considering the fact that a shape-shifting Nagin would allow ample opportunities for the director to show Mallika with little or no clothes-and the whole film seems to be made to cater to this premise. And the director leaves no stone unturned to achieve this aim. The fact that Mallika has not a single line of dialog just confirms this view.

The remaining cast of characters is wasted--Irrfan Khan though manages to be respectable in his role as a police officer-very understated and elegant. A good actor who took up this role needlessly.

The story follows a linear path--and the dialog is so straightforward its laughable at times. A case in point would be the goons hired by Jeff Doucette at his hideout-it seems the director knew the audience would wonder why the goons would decide to stay even after knowing of the impending danger and Doucette's maniacal ways--so they engage in a dialog justifying their decision--'we are doing it for the money. anything for money.' Its a very lame way to rationalize the story, and its very obvious.

The movie has nothing to offer, so it relies on shocking and disgusting the audience. Like the aforementioned scene with the guts, or a scene with a kid shitting, or a scene with a dead man with stained pants. It wouldn't have been a problem if these scenes had added to the story, but they do not and seem pointless.

The movie has a few elements which should have been clarified-like the fact that whenever the Nagin shape-shifts or is reborn to a woman form, any woman who is pregnant has a miscarriage. The director has tried to weave this into the story, but it is not easily inferred, and adds to the confusion.

The special effects are bad and seem cheap. and for people who are now used to the quality of Avatar, the effects would sorely disappoint. The snakes look fake, the transformation scenes look fake.

All in all, the movie has only one USP--an almost fully nude Mallika Sherawat.