Krrish 3

Written and directed by Rakesh Roshan. Written by Robin Bhatt, Honey Irani, Irfan Kamal, Akarsh Khurana, Rakesh Roshan, Sanjay Masoom, and David Benullo. Starring Priyanka Chopra (Priya Mehra), Hrithik Roshan (Krishna Mehra/Krrish/Rohit Mehra) and Amitabh Bachan (Narrator).

Bottom line: As one who has little experience with Bollywood action movie or the Krissh series, I wouldn’t recommend Krrish 3 because it’s too clichéd, too over-the-top, and too long.

2/4

Krrish 3 is the third in the saga of Krrish; the superhero of Mumbai. It’s everything I   expect from a Bollywood big budget action movie. I’ll get more into what I mean by that in a bit. The first few minutes of the film are dedicated to a review of the story so far. As if we needed a refresher, am-I-right? I’m willing to bet that you need so allow me to elucidate.

“This tale began with the birth of a mentally challenged boy, Rohit…” He grew but his mental age remained to that of a child. He was bullied. He prayed to Krishna and then, one night, a spaceship landed in his homeland. He made contact with the aliens who gave him super intelligence. He became a scientist, met a pretty lady and had a son (named Krishna). He went to Singapore to work with another super scientist and disappeared! Meanwhile, Krishna grew up with his grandmother (Rohit’s mother) in a secret location. He joined a circus, donned a mask and became a superhero. He learned that his father was held captive in Singapore. And now we can start the movie.

After writing all that, I’m exhausted of plot summary so let me speed up the general plot of this film. Kaal (Vivek Oberoi), a paraplegic with telepathic abilities (no, not Professor X), holds the world hostage by releasing a super-virus. He has the only known antidote. His ultimate goal is to get enough money to fuel his research to cure his paralysis. He splices his DNA with animal-DNA to create animal-human hybrids he calls “Manimals.” He has a frog hybrid, a shapeshifter lady, and a super strong guy. Will Krrish save the city and the world?

Bollywood continues to baffle me. A while ago, I tried watching Dhoom:3 and couldn’t get more than a half hour through the nearly three hour epic. Krrish 3, on the other hand, is a reasonable two and a half hours and it even has an intermission. Both films are the mixture of over-the-top action sequences, over-the-top dialog, and musical sequences. I didn’t understand if I should internalize the tap dancing sequence like I internalize Die Hard. Now I know I’m writing about Krrish 3 but I tend to use Dhoom:3 as my point of Bollywood reference. Krrish 3 presents the same sorts of questions.

There’s a fight scene between a villain and Krrish. They are indoors, mind you, and whenever the camera does a close up of Krrish, his hair is blowing in the wind. They are indoors! There is no wind! Even beyond little details like that, just the level of similarity between X-Men and this movie. I can’t be the only one to ask this, right? And yet, Krrish 3 broke all sorts of Bollywood records. I wonder what was lost in translation that captured the Bollywood imagination.

Would I recommend Krrish 3? I don’t know, man. It’s one of those things where it could be fun to watch because it’s silly. But, I feel kinda bad saying that because I don’t really understand it. I feel like I’m laughing at a culture and their cinema, you know? As far as comic book action movies go, I don’t recommend it. There have been a ton of comic book movies in recent years and this one isn’t quite worth its two and a half hour runtime.

But I can’t seem to let it go as simply a “no” review. It, and Bollywood as a whole, continues to confuse me and I think it’s because I am too uninformed as to the culture. I can see how The Twilight Samurai, which I watched not too long ago, could have been equally confusing if I was clueless about Japanese culture and cinema.

As it is the New Year, this seems to be a good time to make a resolution to learn a thing or two about India and it’s cinema. Surely then I will be able to appreciate or at least have a better idea as to what is going on in the major Bollywood films that will undoubtedly come in the future.

Have you had any experience with Bollywood? If you have, please leave a comment! And, feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for reading!

Terminator Genisys

Directed by Alan Taylor. Written by Laeta Kalogridis, Patrick Lussier, James Cameron (characters), and Gale Anne Hurd (characters). Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (Guardian), Jason Clarke (John Connor), Emilia Clarke (Sarah Connor), Jai Courtney (Kyle Reese).

Bottom-line: If you go in with the right expectations, this new addition to the Terminator franchise is kinda fun and actually it warmed me up to the franchise as a whole.

2/4

If you’ve ever heard of Terminator you can probably guess the plot of Terminator: Genisys. In the late ‘90’s or early ‘00’s, A.I. was born - yadda yadda yadda - Mankind vs. Machines war. The machines discovered a way to time travel so they sent a robot wrapped in human skin back to kill the mother of the guy who saves Mankind from the war so he is never born. The guy’s name is John Connor and his mother’s name is Sarah. The humans followed suit and sent someone back to save her. That was the first Terminator.

In the second one, the machines sent a liquid metal robot to kill John when he was just a kid. The third one was probably the same. The fourth movie in the franchise was set during the war against the machines, and that brings us to the latest film in the franchise.

It seems like a bunch of movies this summer bank on nostalgia to draw in audiences and Terminator Genisys is no exception. The film’s introduction uses fancy graphics to explain the premise of the series. There is a battle sequence while the humans take over the Machines’ time machine and then they send Kyle Reese (Courtney) back in time. Reese’s arrival in 1984 is a reenactment of the first film up until another liquid metal terminator reveals itself. Sarah Connor comes driving in and saves the would-be hero from the future.

I can’t really go into too much detail actually without giving away major plot points but the crux of the movie comes down to the fact that by sending people to the past, it actually changes the future.

I suspect there are two reasons why people will see Terminator Genisys: Arnold and action. Arnold is getting older but the movie finds a way to work that in; the skin around the machine is human skin so it ages. Boom. Done. They also have a running line that’s kind of endearing. “Old…but not obsolete!”

The action is pretty standard. There are lots of explosions and characters are only injured when it is needed for the plot. They withstand car crashes and fist fights and explosions that would maim anyone else but when a random character shoots them in the leg, they’re incapacitated.

Much like the action, everything, be it the graphics, or the dialog, or the plot, is pretty standard. Normally I’d give this type of movie a 1.5/4 because it doesn’t really do anything that other movies can’t do better. The reason I decided on a two was because of the film’s sense of humor. It’s stuff like the ‘old but not obsolete’ line that makes this movie a fun, pleasant experience. After all, by this point in the franchise I shudder to imagine what it would look like if it took itself too seriously.

EDIT: I have half a mind to knock off half a point for the stupid spelling.