PHANTOM Reviews/Box Office thread. - Page 25

Movie Review: Phantom

Director: Kabir Khan

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty and Mohammed Zeeshan

An eye for an eye would leave the whole world blind. Mahatma Gandhi said that a few decades ago. In essence what he really meant was that revenge is never really worth it. Especially so, when dealing with social and political circumstances. Yet, Kabir Khan's Phantom advocates the cause of vigilante justice fuelled by violence. It's okay to kill half a dozen men because they purported the terrorist attacks on Mumbai. Yes there is the thin veil of cinematic liberty, even so, you are selling cold blooded revenge as a sense of patriotic justice. Either that's a juvenile way of being heroic or gross misrepresentation of morals and nationalism.

Nonetheless the story deals with a dishonoured Indian army man being propositioned to go kill all those directly responsible for orchestrating the 2008 attacks on Mumbai. Their names are changed ever so slightly. So our tainted hero Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan) sets out on a body-of-lies mission to track and destroy the villains. The mission takes him to exotic locales like London, Chicago, Jordan, Syria and ultimately Pakistan. His aide de camp is the beautiful but cheekily named Nawaz (Katrina Kaif). As the mission wears on, their chemistry keeps growing, eventually turning to an understated relationship of trust and admiration. Thrown into the muddle are a RAW chief (Sabyasachi Chakrabarty) his ambitious new consultant (Mohammed Zeeshan) and a few undercover Indian agents. The template is so Ek Tha Tiger.

Despite its all too familiar screenplay, Phantom suffers from a bad case of choppy editing all through the first half. The second half is a lot more taut and that's where the film begins to redeem itself. The strength of this movie are it's cinematography and action choreography. You really feel as if you are watching a slick Hollywood action movie. It's entertaining and deeply engaging. Rarely do you such finese in the execution of action films in India. If you've grown up enjoying the works of Ridley Scott and /or Tom Cruise you'll have a blast watching Phantom.

On the subject of action stars, Saif Ali Khan has attempted the genre of late with offerings like Kurban, Agent Vinod and Race 2. Phantom with all its genre qualities is very similar to the former films. No surprises then that his performance has nothing new. It's like a heady mix of bravado and restrained intensity. It works in parts only. Most times its just marred by the fact that he's playing a secret agent as loud and thundering as Rambo. Katrina Kaif too juggles with a half baked role. She's an Indian parsi girl living in London, working for international first aid agencies with questionable motives. And she pines for a cup of tea in the swanky tea shop of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. Perhaps that's too much crammed into a small wrapper.

All said and done, Phantom is slightly lacking in cinematic intelligence and guile. Especially when you consider Kabir Khan's last offering Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The film's sense of patriotism is kiddish and it tries a little too hard to make a hero out of its protagonist. Even then, it does enough to entertain you and keep you hooked. It would make a decent Sunday watch if not taken too seriously.

By Team Biscoot | Aug 28,2015,01:46 PM IST

By Bhakti Mehta

Cast - Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif

Director - Kabir Khan

Rating - **1/2

The story of Phantom is about how the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), recruits an ex-soldier called Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan) to go on a mission of terminating all the most wanted terrorists that had their hands in the Mumbai 26/11 attack. On this journey, he is introduced to a former RAW officer, Nawaz (Katrina Kaif) who is roped into this situation unwillingly but goes along with it. The movie then unfolds as to how Daniyal goes about to plotting and executing his plans to coldly murder all the terrorists on the list.

Director Kabir Khan should be commended on the fact that even though the film is on terrorism, pertaining to the attacks in India, he was fairly neutral and did not play the much touted blame-game where Pakistan is concerned. Both the Hindu and Muslim religions were not tainted in the story and neither did they give in to the stereotype of showing the audience that all Pakistanis are terrorists. So kudos on that. But there are some grave mistakes in the script that cannot be overcome.
The film is based on Hussain Zaidi's book Mumbai Avengers but does not do justice to it. Kabir Khan has taken a lot of leeway in the form of artistic freedom and in doing that, has left many holes in the screenplay which makes the movie weak. Some parts are quite gripping and get you involved in the film, but the lack of continuity, cold chemistry of the lead stars and too-true-to believe convenient scenes will make you question on the sensibilities of the filmmaker.

Phantom gets a little too unbelievable at one point especially when it is shown how shoddy the conditions of our Indian intelligence organisations is. Also the part where Daniyal is captured by the ISI and just gives out his real name is difficult to fathom.

Kabir Khan had an adequate script with Phantom and what could have made it better is a cast that would make us believe in this fantastical story. But instead, he went with Saif and Katrina, both who are not completely equipped for roles like these.

Saif has had a string of bad lucks since the last couple of years and was hoping that this film by his saving grace. Sadly, he doesn't generate any redeeming qualities with his tired acting skills. The actor tries his Agent Vinod avatar again in Phantom but the perpetual frown on his face throughout the film brings one to yours too. He fails to bring in the passion that is needed to do this intense role of a man who is thoroughly wronged but is willing to go to any lengths for his country.

What more can be said about Katrina's plain acting skills that hasn't already been said before? The actress seems to be trying hard to do different roles but with her stiff expressions and dialogue delivery we can say that she is not very suitable for roles with this kind of intensity. She is adequate till the time she has to say the lines but then disappoints with the lack of emotion in them. Though we admire Kat that she is attempting to find her footing in the type of cinema where she is not a decoration, it seems like the actress needs a little more time to get into the skin of her characters in serious films like this.

Though Phantom is not primarily a love story, there is a (obviously) love angle in the film. But barring the romantic track 'Saware' sung by Arijit Singh, we can't really feel the connection between Saif and Katrina. There is a sweet moment in the film where they show both of them talking about the Taj (26/11) attacks and Nawaz relating the story of how her father would take her there when she was little and Daniyal promising her to take her there after their mission is over. Except these few moments, there seems to be a detachment between them which is quite the downer.

The film has been an ambitious project for the director Kabir Khan and he gets points for the cinematography of showing the realistic action sequences especially the scene with the submarine. And another thing that the filmmaker can be credited with is how he manages to generate patriotism in his audience. The hard-core action towards the end of the movie is worth a watch and the filmmaker hits the cord by giving us a feeling of justice that is served for the heinous attacks that happened seven years ago.

Our Verdict -

Phantom makes you feel the wounds that everyone suffered during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. So if you are willing to overlook the little gaps in the script and the adequate acting of the stars, then this movie will be worth watching if for nothing else, then Kabir Khan's direction along with the patriotic touch.

Movie Review: Phantom for the mob opera

Fri, Aug 28, 2015

PHANTOM MOVIE REVIEW