RRR movie review (2022) rating: 3 and 1/2 stars out of five
RRR is undeniably, unapologetically, a clever, carefully made over-the-top masala action entertainer.
Director S.S. Rajamouli has a rare creative vision, unblinking clarity, daring conviction, and elaborately planned action set pieces to deliver an outrageous fictional take on two real-life freedom fighters (Alluri Sitaram Raju and Komaram Bheem).
Making the unbelievable, believable
Having watched the Hindi dubbed version twice in the theatres within a fortnight, I was largely awed, the finale had me numb though for its religious manipulation.
The last 20 minutes gets into rushed up, whatever goes mode, just like in Bahubali 2: The Conclusion, with wounds healing in minutes, caged bars uprooted by bare hands, and heroes never running out of arrows.
But Rajamouli is constantly gunning for convincing unbelievability, filling in with focused, painstaking, clever detail to make it breathtaking and plausible on-screen as with all his commercially successful blockbusters.
I won’t mention the details of any of the stunning action parts, they are best experienced in the theatres.
What RRR proves is, that it’s one thing to have a grand idea and then to convincingly execute it.
It’s one thing to have a mammoth budget for a commercial action movie, and another to have the calm intelligence to bring it to life.
Rajamouli ticks all the boxes, he is a rare one for a commercial movie director. He is easily the most audacious, talented, best over-the-top Indian action movie director alive.
Sheer genius.
Despite the stunning RRR take, Eega remains my favourite S.S. Rajamouli over-the-top action flick. He is yet to top that improbable act of a revenge-crazy fly.
Jr. NTR, Ram Charan dazzle
The endearing Ram Charan – Jr. NTR bonding does wonders for the bromance, the score and songs by M.M. Kreem are stunning. That Charan and NTR have dubbed for the Hindi version gives RRR a connective emotional weight.
Friendship is at the core of RRR. As Rajamouli has said in the RRR publicity interviews, the emotion comes first and then the action.
K.K. Senthil Kumar’s cinematography gels with Rajamouli’s brilliant vision. The VFX is excellent, and it gets me excited to wonder what Rajamouli can do with a larger Hollywood-like budget. A. Sreekar Prasad ensures that RRR doesn’t feel stretched despite the 186-minute running time. The art direction, fight choreography, and crowd direction are splendid.
Ajay Devgn does his cameo with expert efficiency. Alia Bhatt has criminally little to do. The other supporting Indian actors are all good.
The English characters come off as caricatures, only Olivia Morris as a sympathetic woman, registers. The British villains are written as one-dimensional, wicked characters.
RRR movie review
I am tempted to give RRR four stars out of five, but for the sketchily written English characters, the improbable hero-wins-all finale, but that is a reviewer’s reasonable grumbling.
As a viewer I was astounded at both viewings, and it took me a week and more to attain objectivity and then scribble this review.
If an escapist action masala entertainer has to be made, this is how one should make it. S.S. Rajamouli is a genius in that genre. I enjoyed every moment of RRR and hope to catch the original Telugu version soon.
Don’t miss RRR on the big screen. The masala story and themes have been told before a zillion times in Indian commercial movies, but not in such inspired creative bursts.
Afterword: I have since watched RRR eight times. Four times each in the Telugu original and four times in the Hindi dubbed version. There are few filmmakers who can pull off over-the-top action sequences and heightened emotions like S.S. Rajamouli. The conviction and execution is breathtaking to watch.
