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Cobra Movie Review: Confusing and Convoluted

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Cobra Movie Review: Confusing and Convoluted

Film: Cobra
Score: 2/5
Banner:
Zee Studios and R4 Entertainments
Forged: Vikram, Srinidhi Shetty, Irfan Khan, Roshan Mathew, Mirnalini Ravi, and others
Music: AR Rahman
DOP: Bhuvan Srinivasan, Harish Kannan
Editor: John Abraham
Written and directed by: Ajay Gnanamuthu
Launch Date: August 31, 2022

Vikram has not delivered a strong hit after Shankar’s “I”. However nonetheless, his movies are regarded ahead for his performances. “Cobra” is his newest movie that hit theaters.

Let’s discover out its deserves and demerits. 

Story:
A prince in Scotland will get killed on his wedding ceremony day in Church. One other killing of a high-profile minister takes place in Orissa. No hint of the identification of the killer. Who’s executing these assassinations? 

As an Interpol agent (Irfan Pathan) is on his mission to crack the case, he will get a file from Judith, a younger math pupil from India, proposing her concept known as Cobra about these assassinations.

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The agent comes right down to India. They quickly discover that Madhi (Vikram) is behind these killings. He’s a mathematical genius. The remainder of the drama is attending to know his causes for these assassinations.

Artistes’ Performances:
Vikram is a nationwide award-winning actor. He gave many memorable performances in his lengthy profession. However recently, he’s turning into monotonous along with his tendency to do totally different getups. “Cobra” isn’t any totally different. There may be nothing extraordinary act from him. Those that like him doing “Aparichitudu” sort of performing, get a chunk of it one in a single scene. That’s it. 

“KGF” woman Srinidhi Shetty’s position is poorly written. Her thread with Vikram is mindless.

Like Vikram, Sarjano Khalid additionally performs two roles, the youthful variations of Vikram. Mirnalini Ravi in a flashback episode is okay.

Roshan Mathew performs a unfavorable position however leaves no impression. Cricketer Irfan Pathan is spectacular.

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Technical Excellence:
The movie is mounted on a lavish scale. The manufacturing design is wealthy. The cinematography and the motion choreography are top-class. AR Rahman’s music is common. 

Highlights:
Interval twist
Interrogation scene

Downside:
Incoherent script
Illogical sequences
3-hour size

Evaluation
“Cobra” begins with a sequence of assassinations revealing how cleverly the murderer executed them. The early scenes create curiosity and intrigue as they occur in numerous nations. A mathematical genius performing them additional provides novelty. Vikram taking part in this half attracts us into the movie. The movie has flashes of brilliance at first when it makes use of mathematical theories to clarify the crimes and assassinations. Some bold concepts are additionally offered.

However the director appears to be not happy with these concepts. He has added complexity to the straightforward story of the assassination. Hallucinations, flashback tales, mom sentiment, brother sentiment, and whatnot, add on because the story goes on and on. Barring “Dhoom 3” model interval bang, it goes downhill thereafter.

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The director appears to have forgotten what he needed to inform after a degree. The three-hour film drags in lots of instructions however by no means involves the unique supposed aim. The ultimate hour is absolutely foolish and illogical.

At first, we’re made to imagine that Vikram is doing all these assassinations for a company man. We don’t get a solution to why the so-called villain (this company firm’s proprietor) is doing what he’s doing. His actual enmity or hyperlink with Vikram isn’t established. Quite a lot of hyperlinks have gone lacking on this uneven enhancing. 

Srinidhi Shetty and Vikram’s thread is one other messy angle.

In a nutshell, “Cobra” is overlong and overloud. The movie creates curiosity simply earlier than the interval however after that, it will get tiresome and turns into an entire bore.

Backside line: Foolish

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Movie Reviews

Rex Reed’s 2024 Movie Review Roundup: A Masterclass in Blistering Honesty

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Rex Reed’s 2024 Movie Review Roundup: A Masterclass in Blistering Honesty

Rex Reed’s scalpel was particularly sharp in 2024, slicing through 43 films with the kind of ruthless precision only he can wield. This was the year he likened Mean Girls to “cinematic Covid,” torched Longlegs as a “dumpster fire,” and suggested that Cash Out had John Travolta so lost, “somebody stage an intervention.” For those seeking unfiltered truths about Hollywood’s latest offerings, Reed delivered—though not without a handful of pleasant surprises.

His ratings reveal a critic tough to impress: 28 percent of films earned 1 star, while 5 percent received the graveyard of zero stars. Horror films bore the brunt of his wrath—Longlegs and Heretic were sacrificed at the altar of his biting prose. Yet, amid the wreckage, 5 percent clawed their way to 4 stars, with dramas like One Life and Cabrini standing out for their emotional gravitas. Biopics, historical narratives and character studies fared best under his gaze, suggesting Reed still has a soft spot for films anchored in strong performances and rich storytelling.

One of the more controversial reviews? Reed’s glowing praise for Coup de Chance, which he called “Woody Allen’s best film in years.” In an industry where few dare applaud Allen publicly, Reed’s unapologetic endorsement (“unfairly derailed by obvious, headline-demanding personal problems”) was as bold as ever. Interestingly, the most-read review wasn’t the most positive—The Last Showgirl dazzled readers, perhaps more for the spectacle of Pamela Anderson’s Vegas reinvention than the film’s plot. It seems Reed’s audience enjoys his kinder takes, but they revel in his cinematic eviscerations just as much. When Reed loves a film, he ensures you know it—just as he ensures the worst offenders are left gasping for air.

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Movie Review: A Locksmith lives to Regret Taking that One “Night Call”

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Movie Review: A Locksmith lives to Regret Taking that One “Night Call”

I’m of two minds about that subgenre we call the hero/heroine with “particular skills” thriller.

The parade of Liam Neeson/Jason Statham/John Cena et al action pictures where this mobster, that rogue government or rogue government agency or creepy neighbor crosses this or that mild-mannered man or woman who turns out to be ex-CIA, a retired Marine, a former assassin or Navy SEAL has worn out its welcome.

Somebody effs around, somebody finds out they’ve “Taken” the wrong relative, crossed the wrong professional mayhem-maker. Yawn.

It’s always more interesting when somebody a lot more ordinary is tested by an extraordinary situation, and by people ostensibly a lot more capable of what Mr. or Ms. In Over Their Heads is attempting. “Three Days of the Condor” is the template for this sort of film. A more recent example is the snowplow operator tracking down and avenging himself on his son’s mob killers — “In Order of Disappearance.”

Throwing somebody with one “particular skill” that doesn’t include violence, criminal or espionage subterfuge or the like? As an exercise in screenwriting problem-solving that’s almost always a fun film to watch. That’s why I have high hopes for Rami Malek’s upcoming spring fling, “The Amateur.”

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Let’s hope that’s as good as the lurid, violent and tight-as-a-drum Belgian thriller, “Night Call.” A young man (Jonathan Feltre) is tricked, trapped and life-or-death tested by one long night at work.

Mady is a student, we gather, and a native-born Belgian with a thing for Petula Clark ’60s pop — in French. His night gig is as a locksmith. On this one night, that job will get him into trouble despite his best efforts to avoid it. And his “particular skills” and the tools of his trade will come in handy just enough to make you mutter, “clever, clever boy” at the screen and what writer-diector Michiel Blanchart has cooked-up for his feature filmmaking debut.

Mady’s the guy you summon when you’ve locked yourself out of your car, business or flat in the wee hours. He’s professional, courteous and honest. No, the quoted price — 250 Euros — is all you owe.

He’s also careful. The young woman named Claire (Natacha Krief) summons him to a Brussels flat she’s locked out of. She doesn’t have the 250. It’s in her purse, in her flat. With her keys. No, that’s where her ID is, too. As she’s flirted, just a bit, and the streets all around them are consumed by Black Lives Matter protests because Black people die at the hands of white cops in Belgium, too, he takes her word for it.

Mady might be the last to figure out that her last lie, about “taking out the trash” (in French with English subtitles) and hitting the ATM downstairs, is her get-away. When she rings him up and warns him to “Get OUT of there” (in French with subtitles) he’s still slow on the uptake.

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That’s when the apartment’s real resident, a musclehead with a punching bag and lots of Nazi paraphrenalia on the walls, shows up and tries to beat Mady to death. He fails.

But can a young Black man call the possibly racist cops about what’s happened and have them believe him? Maybe not. It’s when he’s trying to “clean” the scene of the “crime” that he’s nabbed, and his night of hell escalates into torture, threats and attempts to escape from the mobster (Romain Duris at his most sadistic) in pursuit of stolen loot and the “real” thief, the elusive but somehow conscience-stricken “Claire.”

As Hitchcock always said, “Good villains make good thrillers.” Duris, recently seen in the French “The Three Musketeers” and “The Animal Kingdom,” famous for “The Spanish Apartment” and “Chinese Puzzle,”, is the classic thriller “reasonable man” heavy.

“Either you become a friend, or a problem,” his Yannick purrs, in between pulling the garbage bag off the suffocating kids’ head, only to wrap Mady’s face in duct tape, a more creative bit of asphyxiation.

The spice that Blanchart seasons his thriller with is the backdrop — street protests, with Black protesters furious that Mady isn’t joining them and riot police pummeling and arresting every Black face in sight. That’s jarringly contrasted by the oasis-of-calm subway and unconcerned discos where Mady chases clues and Claire.

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A getaway on a stolen bicycle, dashing through streets and down into a subway station, suspense via frantic escapes, frantic bits of outwitting or outfighting crooks and cops, a decent confrontation with the not-cute-enough-to-excuse-all-this Claire and a satisfying “ticking clock” finale?

That’s what makes a good thriller. And if those “particular skills” show up here and there, at least we know Mady’s learned something on a job that if he lives to finish school, won’t be his career.

Rating: unrated, graphic violence, sex scenes in a brothel

Cast: Jonathan Feltre, Natacha Krief, Jonas Bloquet, Thomas Mustin and Romain Duris.

Credits: Scripted and directed by Michiel Blanchart. A Magnet release.

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Running time: 1:37

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Movie Reviews

'Cunk on Life' movie review: Laugh-out-loud mockumentary on life’s big questions

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'Cunk on Life' movie review: Laugh-out-loud mockumentary on life’s big questions

‘Cunk on Earth’ (2023), a mockumentary series on BBC, was hailed for its laugh-aloud mockery of pretentious documentaries and Morgan’s razor-sharp comedic timing — British droll at its very best.

Rashmi Vasudeva

Last Updated : 04 January 2025, 03:01 IST

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