Kaithi (2019)

[*** stars / *****]

Will Dilli (Karthi), free after ten years of imprisonment finally get to meet his kid daughter? He will, if he makes it alive through a night involving a drug consignment, hardened criminals out to get it, and a truckload of sedated police officers.  

Great action movie concept 
Writer-Director Lokesh Kanagaraj fills up this central premise of Kaithi (Prisoner) with tense, mostly impressive, original action set pieces, matching the energy vibes in Keanu Reeves-Sandra Bullock starring Speed (1994) and Steven Spielberg's Duel (1971). 

'Believe it or not' parts 
After having set a new level for action dramas, I had to sigh when a stabbed person beats up goons without any discomfort. The one-man-army mode scenes reek of the hot air proceedings that mar the Nicolas Cage-starring Con Air (1997).  

Despite the escapist, logic-defying moments, Kaithi is one of the best Tamil action thrillers I have seen. 

Kaithi review 
The superb action scenes, and how the cover of night is cleverly used to keep the proceedings tense, are huge plus points. 

Keeping this relentless without songs does Kaithi a lot of good, the length is just right too. The sharp night-time camera work by Sathyan Sooryan adds to the movie's impact.     

Blade Runner (1982)

[**** stars / *****]

Tyrell: 

You were made as well as we could make you.

Roy: 

But not to last.

Tyrell: 

The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy. Look at you: you're the Prodigal Son; you're quite a prize!

Roy: 

I've done... questionable things.

Tyrell: 

Also extraordinary things; revel in your time.

Blade Runner is a sci-fi drama set in 2019, Los Angeles, where humans have spread their misery beyond Earth. 

There are space colonies, space wars, scarily human-like robots, flying cars, and an encompassing grimness. 

Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a 'blade runner', his immediate job involves tracking and killing four replicants (bio-engineered robots or humanoids with limited lifespan) who have illegally entered Earth.    

In a not so bright future, Blade Runner (1982) will probably be remembered as Ridley Scott's best movie, yes, above Alien (1979), Gladiator (2000) and Black Hawk Down (2001), for the sheer audacity and cinematic leap of the idea - human future that is sad and hollow, despite the premise that man has conquered more planets and has robots at his service.

Question everything  
What is it that differentiates man and machine? 

Does a machine with an expiry date and human-like awareness have the right to live a human life? Is man finally the cruel, calculating machine after all, with a metal heart?

A grim future 
Blade Runner is epic, unparalleled, beautifully brooding future-scape painting of a sci-fi movie, that still brings up questions on humanity, creation, life, listlessness, fear and brutal authority. 

A yet unraveling masterpiece of its genre.

There are reportedly eight different edited versions of this grim-some drama, one studio cut is supposed to be four hours long.

I recommend Blade Runner: The Final Cut, released in 2007, said to be the one where Ridley Scott had total artistic leeway to cut his version.

Jurassic Park (1993)

[**** stars / *****]

Robert Muldoon: 

Quiet, all of you! They're approaching the Tyrannosaur paddock.

Anticipation, breathless excitement, the wait in the rain and then the Tyrannosaurus rex appearing with a deafening roar, the dinosaur egg-hatching moment, they don't make sci-fi action like that anymore. 

The coronavirus lockdown has enabled my rediscovery of yet another sci-fi action adventure masterpiece, Steven Spielberg's magnificent 'dinosaurs and not sharks eat/kill humans'  movie experience, Jurassic Park (1993). 

My first time 
This was the first Hollywood movie I ever watched in a cinema hall as a kid and it was as wondrous to again get the first awe-struck view of the gentle Brachiosaurus, the heart-pounding moment of the Tyrannosaurus rex crossing over the non-functional electric fences, and the scarily intelligent can-open-door-handles-no-big-deal Velociraptors. 

Flat TV screens do help replicate the big screen experience to a teeny-weeny degree. 

Human drama
Again, as in Jaws (1975), Jurassic Park is still immensely watchable because of the human conflicts unfolding in between the body count. 

Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) doesn't fit around kids and ends up protecting John Hammond's (Richard Attenborough) two grandchildren Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards),  Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Grant's partner, is ahead of her times, assured, confident woman who gets the best lines: 

Ian Malcolm: 

God creates dinosaurs. God destroys ... Man creates dinosaurs.

.

Dr. Ellie Sattler: 

Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the earth.

Shades

Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) as a flirtatious mathematician, John Hammond as the rich, ambitious but rash park owner, Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) as the greedy, scheming computer man, Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck) as the sharp game warden, honest matter-of-fact computer worker Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) and the money-minded lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero)...there are as many varied shades of human characters as the numerous dinosaur species of the park, adding layers to the drama, and supporting the fabulous action. 

What makes Jurassic Park tick?        

The dinosaurs for the first time in movie history, look scarily, intimately real, like they were beasts come alive and not monsters, as many previous dinosaur movies made them out to be.

The sheer scale and size proportion of the dinosaurs gets conveyed through the screen, you actually sense their size. 

The beautifully choreographed action sequences, there is so much conviction in how the animals attack, sound, run, plan, and eat. Even though Velociraptors opening doors may have been a bit too much. At that rate, they must have evolved beyond humans by now. 

Also, how does Dr. Grant know that the T-rex can only sense movements? He knew that just by digging dinosaur bones?! But the action is such an impressive takeaway, it all sticks in Jurassic Park. 

The close-up human-dinosaur relationship has never been equaled in any other sequel, Sattler sampling Dinosaur shit, Grant heaving with an ill dinosaur's breathing, all pure cinema magic. This deceptive peace makes the later attacks look even more real, like the video of a tiger attack during a otherwise routine jungle safari. 

The gorgeous Dean Cundey cinematography and the stunner John Williams music. Jurassic Park with music by another composer, would that have been as effective?  

Universal, timeless story of man taking nature for granted and nature in turn teaching us a lesson, under the present circumstances, you better believe it.