Master - Review : Apart from Action scenes nothing works!!!

Master is an Indian Tamil Action film directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. It stars Joseph Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi, Malavika Mohanan, and Arjun Das in pivotal roles and was released on 29th January 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.

The film starts with showing young Bhavani (Mahendran) watching his family burnt to death by his father's enemies. He is put into a juvenile prison but escapes and calls the gangsters to say to spare him and in return, he will weekly give them what he earns. Bhavani (Vijay Sethupathi) starts to make his path by doing exploitations and criminal activities and keeps himself away from any obstructions by making the children from juvenile homes take the blame and in return, he keeps providing them powder, smoke, and booze. For cleaning this mess up, JD or John Durairaj (Joseph Vijay), a drunk, and a dean of students affair is assigned as the new teacher for the boys or say 'beasts' of that juvenile home run by Bhavani. Will JD, who's himself an alcoholic, will ever understand what's really going on in this reformatory? Is he powerful enough to face the gangster Bhavani? 

The story by Lokesh Kanagaraj and the screenplay by Lokesh Kanagaraj, Rathna Kumar, and Pon Parthiban is specifically written for the masses. The film has a hero, a villain, many victims, a few emotions, and a ton of action scenes, and also a contrived love story. But the film is so long it almost makes me think when will this film gets on track. It takes more than an hour to come to a definite storyline. 

The writers didn't care to flesh out how Bhavani became a gangster and how he's earning bundles of money instead they throw some scenes at you just to provide you the idea yes, this is our villain. Bhavani kills his enemies who killed his parents, so does that makes him a villain? He starts to do frauds and exploitations, but why police aren't arresting him? Who cares, just watch the film. Why do all the students care about a drunk teacher? Shut up and watch the film. Why the students have to play band and music to wake him up and to take him to a school program? Why JD starts to dance in the middle of the street just after waking up from sleep? 

What is Malavika Mohanan doing in this film? There's nothing in this story that makes you root for our hero. But there's plenty of it to understand the villain, though not that concrete enough. The film's strengths are some of its sequences like when two boys are killed by Bhavani and JD reads their letter, that scene is good. The scenes are tiring and very lengthy which diverts the story from its path many times. The issues that are raised in this film are evident in the story, the exploitation of powers and child labor but it becomes preachy in the scenes in which the message was given. The action scenes are good but not thrilling and the climax which can be predicted from far away is not fulfilling. 

Joseph Vijay is our 'far from reality' hero who kicks the enemy and he flies out from the room like paper. He is good in emotional scenes and over the top in action scenes as required. Vijay Sethupathi as Bhavani fails to create the ugliness that was needed. He's brutal but impactless. He got one line to speak throughout the film "I'll give you two minutes, kill me and save yourself". Malavika Mohanan as Charu has nothing really to do here. But she's good. Arjun Das as Das is impressive and leaves his mark with his confident performance. There are many other actors but they hardly get any screentime to create a mark.

The cinematography by Sathyan Sooryan is good and the production design by Gopi Prasannaa is very accurate. The music by Anirudh Ravichander is just as was required. It's loud and the English rap suits the tone of the show. The editing by Philomin Raj could have been sharper. 

Master is shattering records at the box office and it's been quite a long time since an action entertainer came out. Lokesh Kanagaraj's direction is reasonably good, it's the script that lacks the potential. The film has a message and it's very crucial but apart from our larger-than-life hero who enters with swag and the stylish and slickly choreographed action sequences, everything is bland. Those who love 90s cinemas, knowing that hero will win at the end, no thrills and excitement, this is for them and Vijay's fans. 

Rating:- 2/5

Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

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