Wazir (2016)

[**1/2 stars / *****] 

Wazir is a quality thriller that works on the force of its tight performances (Amitabh Bachchan-Farhan Akhtar chemistry, primarily), has some loose filmy and predictable parts, the steady direction (Bejoy Nambiar) and wisely clipped running time (102 min) keep it sane.

Wazir story
Daanish (Farhan Akhtar, thick moustache, a first) is a dedicated officer of the anti-terrorist squad. He also adores his beautiful Kathak dancing wife Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari) and little daughter. But an offhand terrorist operation soon rips their life apart.

Post a cathartic filmy revenge, Daanish is sent on leave, when he ends up meeting the wheelchair-bound chess teacher, Pandit Omkar Nath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan, apt casting).The two become close friends, even as the chess teacher views his daughter's seemingly accidental death as murder.

Wazir review 
Post a taut first half, the pace slackens a little in the second, the twist-in-the-tail climax saves it. You may well see the ending, if not for an explosion that acts as a good diversion, to an extent. Certainly a satisfying, convincing thriller, if not great.

High/Giveaway Point
A touch of poetry in Neil Nitin Mukesh's bit part, though for an attentive viewer, it acts as the film's giveaway point.         

In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

[***1/2 stars / *****] 

Greedy oil industry craving for whale oil. Enlisted sailors. A ship sets out. Families bidden goodbye. Sails are set. Harpoons sharpened. 

Authoritative captain vs aspirant first mate. Grumbling crew. Days at sea. Two thousand barrels of oil to fill. Then a whale hammers into their lives...     

Based on a true story that inspired Moby Dick, the epic 1851 English novel by Herman Melville, Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea recounts horrifying events during an expedition undertaken on the American whaling ship Essex in 1820.

In the Heart of the Sea review 
The industrial revolution era, stone-faced businessmen, hapless sailors, killing at sea and catastrophic consequences are impressively recreated. 

In the Heart of the Sea does depict the events with sincerity, making some clever use of 3D. 

This is a good action adventure in parts, evocative moments are rare though.

There are no righteous heroes here. 

In desperate times, the protagonists take extreme measures to stay alive. That is not the grouse. 

Howard has championed survival tales before (Apollo 13).

In the Heart of the Sea is satisfyingly entertaining, but not in a thrilling, heart-wrenching way. 

The movie's quiet, intense understatement works in the Melville sections, but not in its core tale. 

In the Heart of the Sea is worth it for the power and scale of what it implies about human beings and their vain attempts to conquer nature.      

Sicario (2015)

[**1/2 stars / *****] 

Sicario should have been titled: EPIC ANTICIPATION. 

You wait for something big to happen, thanks to the terrific Jóhann Jóhannsson's background score, only for the promised drama flame out to insignificance.

The makers of this take on the Mexican drug trade can't figure out where to linger. 

So it sluggishly flows from FBI agent Kate's (Emily Blunt, nicely done, badly sketched as a central character) point of view, giving us a mitigated view of proceedings, adding brutality, loss, and revenge, the latter as an unconvincing twist. 

Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro are competent, but apart from sluggish atmospherics, there is not much to salvage here.   

One arresting part...

Picture a group of black SUV's moving relentlessly from the US to Mexico and back, with a prisoner in tow. 

Then, amidst a traffic snarl, gun-wielders from either side of the law, draw their weapons and wait.

This is the only time, apart from the first five minutes, and the unexpected finale, that Sicario comes alive.