COMMANDO - A ONE MAN ARMY MOVIE REVIEW

This is one of those rare movies where the title says it all, Commando – A One Man Army. Pre-release, the movie garnered a lot of eyeballs due to the fact that its lead Vidyut Jamwal had performed all the stunts on his own and without the aid of ropes and computer imagery.

The movie does have some incredibly choreographed stunt sequences which would please the action junkie to no end. Vidyut is such a well-built athlete and he can spin, turn, dive and kick with the ease of a pro. Real-life wrestlers and other professional fighters would definitely be impressed with Vidyut’s level and range.

The movie’s storyline is typically simple and just complements the action packed motives of the team. Director Dilip Ghosh and writer Ritesh Shah helm the project with Reliance Entertainment and Sunshine Pictures producing it.

A highly proficient commando, Karan, is out to settle scores with the corrupt government after getting a raw deal from them. He believes that cleaning the scums from a neighborhood is the first small step towards his lofty motive. And that scum happens to be AK 74 Singh, a typical thug in Dalerkot who uses fear as his big weapon and has an ‘eagle eye’ on Simrath, a beautiful girl in the locality.

What follows is along predictable lines as Karan acts as Simrath’s savior and takes on AK and his gang of goons singlehandedly in the midst of forests, rivers and mountains. Whether he also gets back his credibility as an army commando is among the other points of interest in the climax.

The movie owes whatever it is to Vidyut Jamwal as detailed before. It also has an imaginative performance from Jaideep Ahlawat as the main villain, AK 74, who has the scariest pair of eyes around. He keeps enjoying ‘Santa Banta’ jokes with his gang members and is ready to go to any lengths to get Simrath. Pooja Chopra, the debut heroine, is bubbly and is seen throughout the movie as she is involved in all those physical chases. The romance between Vidyut and Pooja is inevitable considering our cinema’s structure but it is pretty enjoyable.

Commando could have done without its songs as they act as definite pause buttons in an otherwise engaging narrative. Two songs feature the villain and need we say more. The romantic and melodious ‘Saavan’ though has been beautifully shot in exotic locations and in ultra-slow motion.

The cinematography by Sejal Shah, the locations and the stunt choreography are all A-Grade and give the movie a ‘solid action movie’ stamp. The BGM score by Prasad Sasthe has to be racy and pulsating and it manages to pass muster.

Arnold Schwarzenegger acted in the English ‘Commando’ decades back and that was a nice showcase of Arnold’s physique and mindboggling energy in the stunts. Our Indian namesake manages to be the same from Vidyut Jamwal’s perspective. As the villain says in the climax, the movie is actually like an action packed game where Vidyut has to keep clearing various levels before the closure.