Cobra movie review: A thriller that should have just remained fun

The first hour of Cobra is excellent. Vikram wears various disguises to kill various people in various countries. He plays to the gallery in most of these scenes and revels in the skins of people that we’ll only be able to slightly recognize. It must have taken a lot of effort and time to stick those thick beards down his chin, though. And if he wears a paunch for some missions, he wears a laugh that sets him apart from the locals that look like him for others. In short, he does an _Anniyan_ without becoming an Anniyan. Madhi (Vikram) doesn’t use a mobile phone. He doesn’t believe in modern technology unless it’s a weapon that he can store in the folds of his sleeve. And when he’s not globetrotting, he teaches math to school kids. Does it look like a dream job? Cobra has the touches of a well-nourished action thriller. There are guns everywhere, a rich baddie (played by Roshan Mathew) who struts around in bathrobes and suits, and a handler (played by K. S. Ravikumar) who doubles up as Madhi’s mentor. Although the hero seems to operate as a one-man army, he gets instructions from his handler without whom he’d be regarded as nothing more than a mathematical genius. Madhi definitely has a lot to be happy about. He never buckles under pressure despite being cornered, but there’s something else that keeps pulling him down. As long as director Ajay Gnanamuthu takes Vikram around the world, things appear fun. Aslan ( Irfan Pathan ), an Interpol officer, who’s given the task of nabbing the killer, doesn’t pose any danger to the protagonist. So, Madhi is totally free to do whatever he wants. Aslan is a talker, not a doer. You never see him connect the dots, or come up with a delicious strategy to set a trap for his bête noire. Why would anybody give him this important case in which most of the victims are politicians? I get the idea that Aslan isn’t the one we’re supposed to be invested in. He’s just another cop who can’t think out of the box. His incompetence isn’t shocking, but it is, nevertheless, a sore point. And Rishi, the rich baddie is an arrogant man who has no ethics. He’s a villain for the sake of being a villain. Madhi, therefore, is the sole character whose graph is interesting. But he’s a good guy at the end of the day. He’s not a very good guy. He’s still a killer, but he reroutes the money he makes from the killings to charities. Perhaps, Gnanamuthu divides his supporting characters into two categories: black and white. And the grey character that remains on the stage is the protagonist. Madhi could have bought an island somewhere and called it his holiday home. But that would have made him selfish. He could have married the love of his life, Bhavana ( Srinidhi Shetty ), without waiting for the approval of her family members. But that would have again made him selfish. Madhi is an orphan and Bhavana’s folks aren’t comfortable with that. They humiliate him with lines that feel like daggers. And yet, he keeps his anger in check. That’s because he’s a good guy. These situations don’t pop up in refreshing ways. They’re quite formulaic. But Vikram’s performance is earnest. And so is A. R. Rahman ’s music. Holy moly, what a fantastic album Rahman has given us. The songs are wonderfully shot, too, and they make the viewing experience all the more rewarding. But Gnanamuthu brings in a new plot halfway into Cobra and changes the dynamic between the protagonist and the antagonist. He throws a dice that contains another villain. And it arrives at the point of the interval. It’s the bang that the makers of thrillers bank on usually to get their viewers excited. But when it makes way for a sentimental portion that involves an honor killing and a misunderstanding, the cards go back to their places. I wouldn’t have minded if Cobra had delved deeper into the Bhavana-and-Madhi story. Why does she want to be with him so much? She constantly talks about leaving her family behind to be with him. She would have surely weighed the odds before saying that out loud. How did she do it, though? The flashback episode in Anniyan (2005) is also dipped in melancholy, but it doesn’t affect the texture of the narration. Cobra, however, starts off as an amusing venture and moves toward the darker space without making the said darker space inhabitable. Vikram has been having a rough time at the box office. Some of his recent releases are nightmares. But Cobra falls somewhere between watchable and could-have-been-better. I’ll take that, for now. Cobra is playing in cinemas.

Karthik Keramalu is a writer. His works have been published in The Bombay Review, The Quint, Deccan Herald and Film Companion, among others.  Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.