Force Review

John Abraham is an ACP who along with his team is on a mission to finish off drug mafia. He manages to do that successfully as well but faces new challenge in the form of (debutant actor) Vidyut Jammwal, a rising drug-lord, who wants to control entire India operations. In this tussle of theirs while Vidyut loses his elder brother (Mukesh Rishi), even John has a price to pay with his lady love's (Genelia D'Souza) life in danger.

A one line plot like above has been seen and heard in dozens of Hindi films before. Especially in the 'chor police' genre, such stories have been churned out of Bollywood in last three odd decades. However what impresses most about the film is the entire 'drugs angle' that has been explored in the film. There are layers under layers which are brought to fore, something that was last evidenced in Aamir Khan's 'Sarfarosh'. Right from the origin to the distribution to the destination of drugs is something that makes you glued to the screen as the drama unfolds.

In this context, the film scores brownie points in quite a few highlight scenes of the film. The four-way scene setting where an informer leads cops to drug dealers across the country is excellently done and makes for an attentive viewing. In fact this is when one remembers how 'Dum Maaro Dum' had tried doing something similar but left it on the peripherals. On the contrary 'Force' pretty much succeeds in making the impression. Later the entire scene setting during the funeral of one of the cops with others taking setting the city blaze with revenge is very well executed and reminds one of Ram Gopal Varma's 'Satya'.

While this action-drama makes the biggest impression in the film, one can't ignore the contribution made by Genelia D'Souza who pretty much manages to be the sunshine, especially in the first half of the film where she brings in light moments. Of course since one wants to see more of action instead of love story, you do feel that her moments with John could have been further curtailed in the second half, especially the song just after their wedding as it only breaks the tense narrative.

This is where one ends up firmly believing that the film truly belongs to John who comes up with his best performance ever in close to a decade that he has spent in the industry so far. As a central protagonist of the film whose presence is felt in practically every scene of the film, he does tremendously well and comes up with the right range of expressions as per the demand of the scene.

However all of this also looks convincing because of a solid act by Vidyut who is easily one of the most remarkable finds of 2011. He is not just truly convincing, he also has the kind of body language that makes him menacing yet totally cool. Also, in a strange way he is also charming despite being the villain of the piece. On the other hand Genelia, an experienced player in the game, is expectedly good and plain natural. Mohnish Behl is ever-so-reliable while Sandhya Mridul brings in a few laughs with her humour laced dialogues.

Music, though easy on ears, is an unwelcome guest as one rather wants this action/drama affair to stay on as a tense affair. Action is of course a highlight though the film could have been shortened further by 10-15 minutes to make it even crisper. Frankly, it extends it's length towards the ending reels. The penultimate scene, though just apt, may further see mixed reactions coming it' way.

'Sheer brutal power' - This is the impression that 'Force' leaves when end credits start rolling. A movie that was always sold as an action entertainer, it has kicks, punches and gun fire holding centre stage for most part of the narrative, hence justifying the subject and genre that director Nishikant Kamat had adopted when he decided to remake the Tamil hit 'Kakka Kakka' with John Abraham.

Rating: ***1/2 

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