"Escape from Uganda" - Movie Review

Prison breaks are not very easy to present in a movie. Mainly because of its predictable ending  and also since a prison escape in reality is supposed to be a near impossible event, the story should present some seemingly impossible scenes in a convincing fashion with the help of some innovative tactics not seen previously or at-least not expected by the viewers. Its tough to get it right !

You might be wondering why I am taking this kind of anticipatory bail on behalf of the "Escape from Uganda" team. Well it spun out from my respect to all the pain and efforts taken by those folks and the bail is needed more than anything to satisfy my conscious before I gave the movie a disappointing  thumps down !!

What I liked in 'Uganda' ?

Bold attempt : A movie solely based on a jail break theme, as far as I know is first of its kind in Malayalam (not forgetting Lalettan's classical "Moonnaam mura" and "Jana priya Nayakan's" pathetic "Love and war"). Hail the makers for taking the risk and trying out some thing different

Rima's performance : Unlike others characters in the movie, Rima as usual, was living as Shika and once again giving her 100%

What I didn't like in 'Uganda' ?

Almost every thing else : You take any jail break/escape movie/series, the first hero is always the 'plan'. It can be revealed before the escape (as in "Prison Break  series) or after the escape  (as in 'Shawshank Redemption') , but either way the highlight of the whole movie is often the method used for escape and the way its explained and executed .. 

But here .....  first of all the plan is vague, add to it an average direction on top of a story/screen play that lacks any sort of imagination and above all a horrible back ground score that makes you seriously wonder if the Music Director was trying out some sound tests which accidentally became part to the movie. In short during the much awaited 'escape from prison' sequence I was also looking for an escape, but out of the theatre

Verdict : If you are expecting thrills of a jail break movie, better avoid this. Get a good version of Shawshank redemption's DVD or get it from torrent and watch it (even for a second time) instead !

Tail piece : Many times after reading reviews where a movie is criticized left right and centre,  I wondered what the reviewer would have done differently. Any ways here is Sam's view on what I would have done to make it better,

SPOILER ALERT : If you still want to see the movie, avoid reading further

1. Reduce Build up phase (which here almost consumes the first half) and use that time in showing a better planning and execution of escape. May be a failed first attempt would be good
2. Take out that totally unwanted 'Suresh Gopi style'  action piece for Parthiepan's  intro and replace it with some thing more cool and simple (some show off with a gun for instance)
3. Take out the romantic song, and instead put a song that focus on their life in Uganda which could help in avoiding many scenes in build up as well as given more intensity on their relations
4. Replace background score to something that slowly increases your heart beat rather than the current one which could create a heart attack instead
5. Advise Mr Vijay Babu to relax a bit and avoid the 'over' part from his acting
6. Avoid the 'DDLJ' style run in the climax. It was seriously funny though :)
7. Refine the script and fix many gaps so that it won't give a feeling to the viewers that some part of reel might have been lost during editing 
8. etc etc

"Thira" - Movie Review

Is 'Thira' a copy of 'Taken' ? Rubbish.. Comparing Liam Neeson with Shobhana or even Dhyan can be called, at the least, atrocious. But that does not mean this movie is not at all inspired from 'Taken' or similar foreign flicks. I could feel the 'Taken' effect at many places in the movie. But the fact that, this movie gives you an escape from those age old style kidnapping movies we see in local flicks, is such a big relief that you will thank the makers if they even get 'inspired'. 

In any case let me reveal what Vineeth and team actually copied, I mean 'got inspired', from 'Taken' and similar Holly wood thrillers, 

1) Editing - The major difference between our Thrillers and some good Hollywood thrillers is not that we have any thing less. But its that we usually have some thing more - one extra song, one extra stunt, one extra emotional side story etc. Its as if there is a rule that if your movie is not at-lest 2.5 hours, its a bad omen. Here the makers have simply cut the sh## and gave us a 2 hour refined thrilling product 

2) A Lady can be a Hero - How many thrillers/action movies we have where a lady is the Hero (not using the word Heroine as it sounds more like 'second fiddle') and also I am not talking about Vijaya Shanthi type movies. Have seen this trend in a lot of Hollywood flicks though. It shows you a tough reality - its not just about the physical strength, but most of the times what matters is your mental strength and resolve 

3) No spoon feeding - Some thing we are so much used to. Take any of the local thrillers, the director will never give the audience the pain of using their 'brain' anywhere in the movie. Every complicated points, even the subtle ones, are explained either by the Hero to the side kick OR else repeated with a short flash back which is shown from a different angle. In this movie you better listen carefully and actually 'think', because the director is not going to stop and spoon feed you with every thing you need to know 

4) Trilogy - I don't even remember a proper trilogy in Malayalam or for that matter Indian movies. Don't even mention about Golmaal or Dhoom.. its such a shame to be called a Trilogy. Even the Ram ji Rao - Mannar Mathayi speakings or Hari har nagars are not actually sequence but made in to a sequence after  the first one succeeded. This one could be the first of its type planned Trilogy at-least for sure in Malayalam. I am sure many are going to follow ('Taken' has got a sequence too ;-) )

There are so many other good things about this movie. Like the performances of lead roles and even others, the good back ground score, cinematography etc 

There is not much bad points, may be except that they could have improved the action sequences. I am ok with shaky originality type stunt, but this is just too shaky and irritating some times. Vineeth, please take care next time :p 

All in all ... A must must watch and not just one time. It surely deserves a second watch !!!

Tail piece : One heartening part of the movie was the use of a transgender in a strong and serious role with out giving much importance to the sex of the person. All I have ever seen in our movies till now is to use them either as a laughing stock/ridiculed type roles or a dull/sympathetic role. Again another welcome change !