Vikram

You can keep your Marvel Cinematic Universe; sign me up for a lifetime membership in the Lokeshverse! Tamil-language film director Lokesh Kanagaraj has returned with his sophomore feature, Vikram, a gritty action spectacle populated by a murderers’ row of the biggest talents in South India. Toplined by 50-year cinema veteran and superstar Kamal Haasan, Vikram serves as a spiritual successor to Haasan’s 1986 film of the same name while also building on Kanagaraj’s debut feature from 2019, the propulsive Assault on Precinct 13 riff Kaithi. Undercover agents, sadistic drug lords, enough twists and turns to build a labyrinth, and a whole lot of really big guns turn Vikram into a crowd-pleaser for Tamil film fans and not a bad entry point for international action lovers.

There’s a serial killer on the loose in Chennai. A band of masked villains are killing people on tape and sending the videos to the cops. Amar (Faasil) is a black ops agent with a team who is brought in by police big shot Jose (Jose, Jallikattu) and tasked with finding the serial killer and stopping him. Among the victims is Karnan (Haasan), a milquetoast nobody that doesn’t fit the M.O. of the other bodies, which immediately puts Amar on his trail. Find the connection to Karnan: Find the killer. Between Amar and the truth is Santhanam (Sethupathi), a vicious local drug lord with a sweet tooth for unrefined cocaine and a huge family that he’ll do anything to protect.

Haasan is definitely the lead here, a film legend in five Indian languages with a history going back six decades, but Kanagaraj backs him up with incredible actors in every role. All of the performers named in the above synopsis are strong enough to headline their own films, with Sethupathi as the thinking man’s hero and Malayalam-language imports Jose and Faasil leaders in their own industry. Putting them all in one film is like a dream, and every single one of them kills it.

Vikram is, by design, an out-and-out action film, and in that regard, it’s a sterling success. The action choreography is impressive, even making us believe that the 67-year-old Haasan can manhandle goons a third of his age with ease. From time to time Kanagaraj gets a little cute with the physics, but the action is so boisterously violent that it’s easy to look past minor indiscretions. All of this action is captured beautifully by cinematographer Girish Gangadharan, whose camera work on India’s 2020 Oscar submission, Jallikattu, was absolutely stunning, and though Vikram is a lot less chaotic than that film, when he turns on the gas it’s a thing of beauty.

Even though Vikram is an extension of the universe of Kaithi, it’s not necessary to see the latter to enjoy the former. With enough down-and-dirty action to sate even the most hardened junkie, a killer look, an incredible booming background score from Anirudh Ravichander, and some very fun surprises throughout, Vikram is definitely among the year’s best Tamil films. Oh, did I mention the really big guns? Because I loved the really big guns. Why is it called Vikram? You’ll see, and you’ll love it.