movie reviews

Attack Movie Review: Wish John Abraham’s Arjun Was Real & He Rescued People From Theatres

April 1, 2022

411 4 minutes read

Attack Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Rakul Preet Singh, Prakash Raj, Rajit Kapur and ensemble

Director: Lakshya Raj Anand.

( Photo Credit – Movie Still )

What’s Good: The runtime that doesn’t make us suffer for a long stretch. Some action too.

What’s Bad: That Rajit Kapur got convinced to play a caricature reflection of a Minister we know after his impressive act as Nehru in Rocket Boys. Also someone killed Jacqueline again in a film. I don’t know if that is exactly bad.

Loo Break: The story is by John Abraham, who last trusted Satyamev Jayate and made 2 of them. Not like you won’t understand anything if you take one. Don’t go against your body.

Watch or Not?: If you are getting free tickets and have nothing to kill your time, go ahead. Or else wait for the OTT release and then join me in the regret concert. We will play the 200 songs Shashwat Sachdev has composed for this one.

Language: Hindi

Available On: In Theatres Near You!

Runtime: 123 Minutes.

User Rating:

So Arjun is a soldier with lots and lots of high Josh. He leads battalions in strikes and comes out successful. One day he falls in love, a romantic song and an almost proposal later a terrorist attack kills his lover and leaves him paralysed for life. Some mad scientist/DJ looking lady named Qureshi for “inclusivity & responsible representation” purpose, develops technology and creates a super soldier out of him. You know the rest.

( Photo Credit – Movie Still )

Attack Movie Review: Script Analysis

My brain cells just like Arjun’s in Attack had erased all the memories of past life trauma named Satyamev Jayate and reminisced the John of Madras Cafe. But is Abraham himself ready to erase and start new? Doesn’t look like. This time he not only acts but even gives the story idea. It is literally every cinemagoer who watches one film and pens an imaginative amateurish story in his/her diary in their adolescent years. But John is decades old in the industry and this is not the standard we expect.

Coming to Attack, the premise of giving AI the respect and looking far away in the future that someday robots will fight war, is idealistic. But the ambitions ends there. Literally on paper. What translates on screen is a confused product that wants to serve the audience who watches films with substance and also the one who enter the hall with their tongues rolled to whistle.

One cannot completely blame John for the story, as his partner in ‘crime’ director and writer Lakshya Raj Anand endorses drama and the level 10 version of it. Together they find the lead pair of movie kissing accidentally while she is about to fall interesting. They are okay when the super soldier forgets he is stabbed in his leg and he walks like it wasn’t a knife but a feather. They make decisions with single screens in mind and if there is some seeti mar audience alive in me, the scene written to incite emotions, turn out comical.

For instance, take the dialogues in a scene where the doctor breaks the news that Arjun has suffered irreversible neck down paralysis, his response to it is “ye permanent kaise ho sakta hai”. Dialogues by Sumit Bhateja. They together even try to make a subtle political reference where a character says “Home Minister is madly in love with the PM”. But this is the only ray of hope in the mountain of darkness.

Also, how did no one point out that a man who has suffered paralysis for a year will never have chiseled muscles?

Attack Movie Review: Star Performance

John Abraham genuinely takes effort in the acting department. The action is cut-throat and he aces every punch. But when he is expected to be cheesy, he ends up looking like John from his last 6 romantic comedies and nothing different. Whoever is advising him to be part of these so called “masala vehicles” needs to be fired from being around him.

Jacqueline Fernandez again has a cameo to be killed and she gets a weird hairstyle which is criticised on screen as well. She gets nothing more to do than be the beautiful dreamy lady love shot in soft focus with a white sheet over her before she dies.

Rakul Preet Singh plays a scientist/tech freak who works from a lab that looks nothing less than a good disco floor. She tries to make sense of her part the most. The actor is earnest just like she was in Sardar Ka Grandson but fate plays the same game with her. Prakash Raj’s fate follows the same route and makes him look comical when he is expected to be serious.

Someone show Rajit Kapur his old films and remind him of the legacy he has created. Not this one. Even Ratna Pathak Shah agreed to do this only to be forgotten completely after a point.

( Photo Credit – Movie Still )

Attack Movie Review: Direction, Music

Lakshya Raj Anand only focuses on the battle sequences and everything that happens between them looks lazy. His decision to play a Bhajan while a top notch robot surgery is taking place only makes me laugh more. The team of DOPs led by Soumik Mukherjee shoot the action in a very confused state.

They introduce the game vibe near to climax making it look like they had forgotten that until then. Shashwat Sachdev creates a replica of URI: The Surgical Strike album and over stuffs the first half with songs.

Attack Movie Review: The Last Word

I share my birthday with John Abraham and it only makes me sad to see him make such choices. Go for it if melodrama dressed as Sci-fi patriotism is your thing.