Viduthalai Part 1 (2023) :
Brief Review -
An interesting film with strong performances and a flawed screenplay. The atrocities of the police department have been exposed by several movies from the south markets (including three big industries), and many have been damn brutal and vivid about the context. Here, Viduthalai has the perfect pretext to make another attempt against the atrocities and inhuman behaviour of cops, but the screenplay is lost somewhere. The love story, overblown police officers, a too honest but too weak protagonist, and a super strong villain with a super small screen space doom this interesting crime drama. The film is about the police department's attempt to arrest the members of the People's Army and their leader, Perumal. A constable joins the police force, but his honesty puts him down. He is punished and humiliated by one of his seniors, and over time he learns about the inhumane practises of the police, which end up affecting his love interest. His social conscience isn't permanent. He seems confused about which to choose among his duty, the torture, his lady love, and Perumal. Why can't he make one good decision, I mean, just one goddamn decision. He was supposed to answer his senior's memo in 24 hours; what happened to that? He can pick up any gun and start shooting criminals when he is not allowed to do so. He can become a superhero in the climax, while the whole freaking time, he was a naive, honest, but cowardly constable. Soori gave a solid performance, but I wonder why the writing wasn't solid. Vijay Sethupathi is wasted, and I hope they use him well in Part 2. The plot is open, predictable, and quite repetitive. Vetrimaaran's direction is slightly better than his writing, but you can't make a great film without great writing and a great screenplay in such cases. Viduthalai falls short of its potential but is still a fine one-time watch. It could've been crispier, though.
RATING - 6/10*
By - #samthebestest.
