Ever since the teaser and trailer of WAR popped into the scene, fans were nuts and bonkers to the core. Mind you, the excitement wasn’t just about another Indian filmmaker trying to create something close to ‘Mission Impossible’ level. The excitement was primarily because two of the fittest and most agile actors of two different generations were coming together to create visual impact, and those names are none other than Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. Tiger Shroff has always gone ahead to express his admiration and love for Hrithik and everyone knew about it. So, more than anything else, the fact that modern day action star Tiger Shroff is coming together with his real life mentor Hrithik Roshan got people moving. The combination of Tiger Shroff and Hrithik Roshan in a movie means jam-packed action and supernatural dance moves. But what else does their ‘WAR’ have in store for us? Let’s find out.
The story unfolds as it shows Kabir (Hrithik Roshan), who’s no less than a mentor to Khalid (Tiger Shroff), work together in an Indian Intelligence Agency. Khalid has seen Kabir rise and shine and take down evil like a magician throughout his life and he happens to be one big reason why Khalid wants to follow in his footsteps and achieve the same. He considers Kabir his guru and the duo often trains and works together, that helps the mentee Khalid to understand the entire scheme of things in the Intelligence Agency. A majority part of the flashback rings in where they show how Kabir and Khalid have jointly taken down terrorists and have worked together as a team to successfully curb evil. From high-octane action scenes to them flaunting their impeccable and stupendous dancing skills together, director Sidharth Anand manages to get everything in that zone and there’s no doubt about the fact that it’s a visual treat for the audiences.
However, even though all might seem hunky-dory till here, things begin to take a turn when Kabir gets into a rogue mission and ends up on a killing spree, where he kills some of his own intelligence agency members. So naturally there’s a need to capture and stop Kabir from this massacre, and given the title of the film, no brownie points for guessing that the humongous task is given to none other than Khalid who has always looked upto Kabir as his ‘idol’. The narrative eventually unfolds further as to how Khalid takes up this challenge. One must however note that in the climax, there’s a huge plot twist that might not go down well with many. Well, if you follow the movie and the screenplay frame by frame, the plot twist isn’t much of a difficulty to guess, but whether you will like the huge twist at the end or not is something you need to find out yourself. The unexplored and most surprising factor about WAR though remains the underutilized potential of Vaani Kapoor, who could simply bring in so much more entertainment and visual pleasure had she been given screen time of more than 10 mins. That’s a turn off for sure. She plays the role of a dancer Naina, who meets Kabir on one of his missions, but becomes a big ’emotional’ deal. Surprising? No. But with just 10 mins of screen time? Yes, for sure. There’s a lot more Vaani could have been used for, but alas.
IWMBuzz Verdict: The story of the movie is engaging but one is forced to say that more attention has been paid to the mega union of Tiger-Hrithik than the plot itself. It looks like they have played it as per the audience’s expectations of seeing great action scenes complimented with amazing dance steps. Choreographers Bosco-Caesar have done their best to get the best out of Hrithik and Tiger and one has to admit that whenever the duo is in one frame, there’s not a single dull moment. Be it for their dashing hot looks or display of their chiseled physique and rawness, you can never take your eyes away from this fantabulous duo. And given their fitness level, it was expected that the action quotient is going to be at its apex, and surely one would say, after watching the movie, that it is at the apex. The screenplay, cinematography and background score, in coordination with the direction of the action sequences, will make you feel like you are watching a huge spectacle and you will throughly enjoy it. YRF have finally got a movie involving a high deal of ‘spectacle’ right after ‘Thugs of Hindosthan’ bombing at the movies, and the audience is surely not complaining. Overall, it’s a must watch if you are into the action genre, but we doubt whether you would want to watch it more than once or not, simply because the crux of any film will always be the story and that’s not the strongest in WAR. But kudos to Sidharth for managing Hrithik and Tiger and making them do literally impossible action scenes that are nothing short of a visual delight for the audience.
3/5 stars.
