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Bollywood, deepika padukone, drama, entertainment, John Abraham, Movies, oscars, Race 2, race 2 in bangalore, race 2 review, race2, Review Round up, Saif Ali Khan
- The star cast of ‘Race 2′ at a promotional event in Mumbai, Jan. 18.
This week’s major movie release, “Race 2,” stars John Abraham, Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Jacqueline Fernandez and Amisha Patel in lead roles. Bipasha Basu, who plays Sonia, the girlfriend of Mr. Khan’s character, has a cameo.
The movie is a sequel to “Race,” released in 2008. Mr. Abraham plays Armaan Malik, who is responsible for the death of Sonia, the girlfriend of Ranvir Singh, played by Mr. Khan.
Ranvir seeks revenge. Ms. Padukone plays the role of Mr. Abraham’s sister Elena and Ms. Fernandez plays Omisha, his girlfriend.
Here’s a round-up of what critics had to say about the movie.
Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama says the movie couldn’t meet the high expectations set for it. However, he was highly impressed with the first half.
“The twists and turns keep you captivated,” he writes. “There’s hardly any dull moment in this hour.”
Mr. Adarsh was disappointed with the second half of the movie, noting that it lacked a “solid punch.”
In the acting department, the critic praised the performances by John Abraham and Saif Ali Khan.
“Saif and John lend so much zing to their respective parts that it’s difficult to decide who’s better,” Mr. Adarsh writes. He also likes the performance of Deepika Padukone. However, he felt the characters of Mr. Kapoor, playing an ex-cop, and Ms. Patel, his assistant, are “forced.”
In the music, too, he says, the first half was better than the second. The background music by the duo of Salim-Sulaiman is “exhilarating.”
Overall, the movie, even though it is full of glamour and fast-paced action, “lacks the sustaining power thanks to its uneven second half,” Mr. Adarsh writes. He gave the movie two and a half stars out of five.
In his review on NDTV, Saibal Chatterjee calls the movie a “convoluted thriller.”
The deception, feels Mr. Chatterjee begins with the movie appearing to be an “action-packed entertainer,” but which turns out to be short of logic and substance.
Mr. Chatterjee sounds skeptical about the movie doing as well as the original, which he describes as a “box-office bonanza.” The sequel may well suffer from the “law of diminishing returns,” he writes.
He says the narrative is “too breathless for its own good” and gives the movie one and half stars out of five.
According to Roshni Devi of Koimoi, logic takes a back seat in Race 2. The movie is full of cheating, lies and backstabbing that might interest the audience. But eventually, “gets tiring,” she writes.
Ms. Devi wasn’t really happy with anybody’s acting in the movie. However, she says Mr. Kapoor is bearable.
Giving the movie one and half stars out of five, Ms. Devi says “Watch Race 2 only if you want to sit through two-and-a-half hours of no-brainer twists, compensated only by the booty show on screen.”
Writing for Zee, Ananya Bhattacharya says the movie’s ”adrenaline-pumping action is the plus point of the film, but too much of that does no good to it.” Viewers might not be engrossed in the movie for its entire two-and-a-half-hour duration, she notes. “The story isn’t able to keep one glued to the screen.”
Ms. Bhattacharya says most of the actors lived up to their expectations except Ms. Patel. She had a special mention for Ms. Padukone. “Deepika’s acting skills are going up with every single film of hers,” she writes in her review.
Like other critics, she praised Salim-Sulaiman for their background music. Ms. Bhattacharya gave the movie two and half stars.