Introduction: Director Vikram K Kumar's "24" is an ambitious project, not just for the director, but also to Hero Surya, who has to prove a point in-order to revive his status @ the BO. Both these people has had contrasting fortunes, with Vikram coming with two impressive movies in his kitty(13B, Manam) and Surya after a string of flops(Anjaan, Masss). Can these 2 combine to create a magic on screen? Let's find out

The Plot: Sci-Fi films with time-travel as theme is always a difficult genre to make. Ensuring the story is articulate without creating any confusion to the audience is an up-hill task which is a lot more elusive than creating a time-machine itself! There's hope however for audience as the last tamil movie on time-travel Indru Naetru Naalai  was very well-received for being funny and intelligent at the same time without picking on the brain of the audience. The plot for "24" is simple and straight-forward - there's a discovery of time-travelling watch by Dr.Sethuraman(Surya) and there's antagonist Athreya(Surya again!), who is Sethu's brother, who wants that watch and who is willing to go to any depths to achieve it, even it means killing his brother and his family, which he does, not before he ends up crippled, with his desire still eluding him. There's "I am a watch mechanic" Mani(Surya it is!), who is the son of Sethu, who has to stop Athreya from reaching his goal of achieving the watch and also avenge the death of his dear parents. The plot is pretty much the template of a tamil movie in the late 90s, only with time-travel being the difference. The simplicities only end there!
Review: Modelling an antagonist based on Stephen Hawking will only evoke laughter from the audience, if his villainism is amateurish. But Vikram is a very intelligent director, who not only makes a cripple villain look menacing but also one of the brilliant villains ever by making him remain always a step ahead of the protagonist @ any point in the movie. He always has plans A-Z well thought of before he even commits something on-screen, which was a breath of fresh-air for the audiences who are mostly used to seeing villains only with brawns but no brains on-screen often. Arvind Swamy's Siddharth Abimanyu fromThani Oruvan only comes close to Athreya in recent times. The interval block made the audiences gasp! It was the highest point of villainism portrayed on-screen in recent times, which I don't want to spoil. From there on, with each passing scene, the people who sat beside me were progressing in their seats towards the edge and by the time climax arrives, they were about to fall. Such was the writing and direction from Vikram. Hats off! The romantic portions and songs were written-off like anything on social media already. Songs, I agree upon but the romantic portions were OK to say the least. They weren't too bad but could've been trimmed a bit as they only acted as speed breakers in a  fast ride. Every single word or the things that people do on-screen have a meaning and the director has totally well thought of it, which is brilliant once again. The scene where Mani gains access to the watch is one such great example! VFX deserves a standing ovation in here. Sci-Fi movies and VFX go hand-in-hand and the VFX people have totally worked their hearts out which was evident on screen. Kudos to that team! There are a few plot-holes then and there which can be completely forgiven considering the grandeur and class of the over-all film. With a complex screenplay narrated without any hiccups or confusion, wonderful BGM, excellent cinematography, good acting and awesome direction - "24" is a must watch!

Positives:

  • Concept
  • Screenplay & Direction
  • BGM
  • Surya acting(especially Athreya)
  • VFX
  • Cinematography

Negatives:

  • Songs(A R Rahman, Surprising!) & Placement
  • Romantic portions

Conclusion: "24" actually lauched a few years back with "Chiyaan" Vikram touted to play the lead was shelved due to budgetary constraints and Vikram K Kumar had to wait, but the wait was totally worth it as the movie is already declared a BO hit! This is definitely a movie not to be missed.

Rating: 8.6/10

Reaction after the movie: