Readers Write In #637: In Leo, Vijay roars but LCU purrs

By Krishnaraj Sambath

What worked for me:

• The inciting incident in the coffee shop, staged against the backdrop of a 90s hit song was LK™! This is a “Yaar endru therigiradha” moment from Kamal’s Vishwaroopam, but LK delightfully goes retro and plays with our emotions. The visuals make us sit on the edge of our seats and hold our breath. But the audio, instead of underlining that emotion, goes in an orthogonal direction and triggers nostalgia of hostel nights dance songs. What a lip-smackingly good stretch of entertainment!

• The warehouse fight (right after Naa Ready song) choreography with a drone shot was bloody sweet! It showed the true mess and chaos of a gang breaking up into factions. This was refreshing, realistic and a slap on forehead for the conventional fight scenes (of focusing on the hero, one punch at a time).

• Having spent the first half with family man Vijay, it was actually very good to see young Vijay in the second half. How does he pull it off!

• In the end, Vijay makes a good line – when there’s nothing good about the past, it’s best to just kill it completely and be reborn as a new person. A worthy takeaway message, if anyone wants.

What was on the fence:

• This idea of engaging the family in a fight against the villain was reminiscent of Sethupathi (Compare Sethupathi’s son using a gun to Chubramani). Trisha and Vijay’s son were fine and had decent roles, but I wish the family scenes were more lived in as Sethupathi’s were.

• Do fathers really narrate such serious what-will-you-do-now stories to their kids? It wasn’t entirely unbelievable, but it was not easy for me to buy it.

• Maya’s character showing up in the coffee shop is later understood to be a scout for Vikram, but it was too fleeting to register (and get the high of) the LCU connection. Also, the way it plays out (of a worker reporting to her boss) was too ordinary. 

• Anirudh’s music for Leo, in comparison to Vikram and Master, was less electric.

• I really like GVM the film maker, but can’t say the same about GVM the actor. He’s there throughout the film, but there isn’t a scene that is particularly elevated by his performance or even presence.

What didn’t work for me:

• Seeing the template of Baasha (for the zillionth time!) was a real let down. It has been cannibalized to death and beyond (as recently as in Jailer). Honestly, I expected more from LK who gave us Maanagaram and LCU.

• Taking out Baasha + History of Violence, what’s left in Leo is Das & Co. Even in that, dad sacrificing his own daughter, regardless of reason, was just not believable. It made the story, whatever was left of it, even weaker.

• Using school girls in danger to heighten the stakes – how many times have we seen that (most recently in Maaveeran)? That stuck out as a sore thumb in an otherwise engaging Hyenah sequence. Also, while they did show a concept of “teamwork” (with GVM and Vijay’s son), the stretch as a whole had a “Hero-saves-the-day” feel to it. 

• The climax fights were super long, especially after so many action blocks. Maybe there’s an audience for that but I was just waiting for it to get over.

• Why did Antony want Leo back at Das & Co? Just to revamp his business? Vijay makes it clear he wants nothing to do with them, by being away for so long and refusing out right he is not even Leo. Why didn’t Harold come?

• During the Naa Ready song, Vijay is dancing next to Elisa and suddenly starts smoking, which seemed to be there only as a cool factor. If you think back to Thirumalai’s Vijay-Lawrence-duo dance, Vijay does his pulling-a-cigarette from collar thing, and Lawrence does something just as cool (or even cooler). Here, Elisa had nothing equivalent to do. She was just standing – That setup looked odd and uncool!

• The whole LCU connection felt loose (more below) 

Why, I think, Vikram worked as and in LCU:

• LK starts with the Kaithi connection (which is a trigger for ensuing dominoes)

• Brings in an army of agents from the old Vikram film

• Had a solid core within the new Vikram, as stand alone film, with Fahad Fasil’s and Vijay Sethupathi’s arcs 

• Ends with the Rolex banger, guaranteeing a forward looking connection