Movie Reviews
Devara Part 1 movie review & film summary (2024) | Roger Ebert
A number of unanswered questions plague “Devara: Part 1,” the fine, but familiar Telugu-language Indian action drama and star vehicle for “RRR” co-lead N.T. Rama Rao Jr. For starters, does this nautical-themed melodrama need to be the first part of a series, and will the heavily foregrounded promise of a sequel leave anyone but NTR’s fans wanting more? It’s hard to know in either case, and not because “Devara: Part 1” doesn’t provide sufficient answers.
First, some good news. Writer/director Kortala Siva (“Acharya”) succeeds at making his ensemble cast, including Saif Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor, look great, especially during meme-ready action scenes and dance numbers. The movie’s plot also unfolds at such a deliberate pace that it’s hard to argue that the movie’s either too slow or too predictable to warrant its 176-minute runtime. Which brings me to the bad news.
Too often, the familiar and unchallenging nature of “Devara: Part 1”’s stock tropes and twists hold the movie back from unqualified success. Variations on established themes aren’t necessarily the worst things in the world, but it does get frustrating when you’re watching a giant-sized pirate drama that so regularly swings from perfunctory to rewarding gestures and usually within the same scene.
It’s easy to forget and doesn’t ultimately matter, but most of “Devara: Part 1” is presented as a dramatized cautionary tale for a group of hapless Bombay cops who, in 1996, try to hustle their way into a community of butch seamen. Local storyteller Singappa (Prakash Raj) eulogizes Devara (Rao) and later his son Vara (also Rao), both of whom lead a divided group of villagers near the Ratnagiri mountains. For a while, piracy serves as the community’s main source of income, as we see in an over-inflated but fitfully rousing opening scene where Rao launches out of the water in slow-motion like he’s the second coming of Esther Williams. Eventually, Devara changes his mind about piracy after learning more about the guns he and his crew smuggle for shifty middleman Muruga (Murali Sharma).
Tensions periodically flair between Devara, a selfless leader who can also fight and dance, and Bhaira (Khan), his generically contrary rival. They fight to a standstill during an annual weapons ritual, where four burly men duke it out to decide which of their four villages will control a cache of weapons. Even this establishing brawl takes a spell to catch fire, but it does once Devara and Bhair tie their wrists together and take turns bashing each other into various hard surfaces.
This and a few more conventional pleasures make the first half of “Devara: Part 1” a pleasant enough sit. The plot moseys more than it charges forward, and the movie only arrives at a dramatic precipice before its pre-intermission break. At this point, the drama stops being about Devara and Bhaira’s rivalry and starts concerning Vara, now an adult and the uneasy bearer of his father’s legacy. This back half of the movie occasionally capitalizes on its initial promise, especially whenever the relatively timid Vara tries to fill his dad’s mega-sized shoes. That struggle sets up a rather obvious twist, which then corkscrews into a more novel twist, ultimately laying the groundwork for the implicitly promised sequel. Sure, sure, but why aren’t there more fight scenes in the water? Couldn’t there have been punchier dialogue, and maybe some more dancing and less exposition?
These burning questions threaten to eclipse the most charming parts of “Devara: Part 1,” particularly supporting performances from diligent character actors like Sharma and Srikanth, as well as Kapoor’s scene-stealing turn as Thangam, Vara’s flirtatious love interest. A packed matinee screening in Times Square took a bathroom break during Thangam’s prescribed solo dance number; they missed the movie’s best musical number. My audience did not, however, forget to roar with applause whenever Rao performed a heroic flex or danced along to songs that they’d already committed to memory. Rao’s emotional range still isn’t vast, but he does unleash a devastating charm offensive whenever he fights (with great posture) or dances (with disarming exuberance). A few set pieces also feature a couple of stand-out images and effects, but only a few have enough momentum and flair to sustain their entire length.
So how badly do we need a “Devara: Part 2”? Siva rarely challenges his charming ensemble cast to step outside of their comfort zones, but he and his collaborators still deliver a lot of what you might want from an action-musical about a pack of murderous, but righteous pirates. A sequel could be a thrilling improvement on what this middling tentpole riser sets up. It could also sink beneath the heavy weight of viewers’ otherwise reasonable expectations.
Desert Warrior, 2026.
Directed by Rupert Wyatt.
Starring Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley, Ghassan Massoud, Sharlto Copley, Sami Bouajila, Lamis Ammar, Géza Röhrig, Numan Acar, Nabil Elouahabi, Hakeem Jomah, Ramsey Faragallah, Saïd Boumazoughe, and Soheil Bostani.
SYNOPSIS:
An honorable and mysterious rogue, known as Hanzala, makes himself an enemy of the Emperor Kisra after he helps a fugitive king and princess in the desert.
With aspirations of being a historical epic harkening back to the sword and sandal blockbusters of yesteryear, Rupert Wyatt’s seventeenth-century Arabia tale is about as generic and epically dull as one would expect from a film plainly titled Desert Warrior. Yes, there appear to be real locations here, and there are some admittedly sweeping shots of various tribes storming into battle on horseback and camels, but it’s all in service of a mess that is both miscast and questionable as the work of a filmmaking team of mostly white creatives.
The story of Emperor Kisraa (Ben Kingsley, a distracting presence even with only one or two scenes) rounding up women from other tribes to be his concubines, which inevitably became the catalyst for a revolution led by Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart), uniting all the divided clans and strategizing battle plans for flanking and poisoning, is undeniably ripe for cinematic treatment. The problem is that what’s here from Rupert Wyatt (and screenwriters Erica Beeney, Gary Ross, and David Self) is less than nothing in the primary creative process; no one seems to have a connection to Arabic heritage or culture, but they have made a flat-out boring film that is often narratively incoherent.
Following the death of her father and escaping the clutches of oppression, the honorable Princess Hind joins forces with a troubled, nameless bandit played by Anthony Mackie (he totally belongs here…), who seems to be here solely to give the movie some star power boost without running the risk of white savior accusations. Whatever the case may be, it’s jarring, but not quite as disorienting as how little screen time he has despite being billed as the lead and how little characterization he has. It is, however, equally disorienting as some of the other names that show up along the way.
As for the other factions, Princess Hind talks to them one by one, giving the film an adventure feel that fails to capitalize on using beautiful scenery in striking or visually poignant ways at almost every turn; the leaders of these tribes also often have no character. There also isn’t much of an understanding of why these tribes are at odds with one another. This movie is filled with dialogue that consistently and shockingly amounts to vague nothingness. Nevertheless, each tribe doesn’t take much convincing to begin with, meaning that not only is the film repetitive, but it’s also lifeless when characters are in conversation.
That Desert Warrior does occasionally spring to life, and a bloated 2+ running time is a small miracle. This is typically accomplished through the occasional fight scene between factions that also serves to demonstrate Princess Hind coming into her own as a warrior. When the tribes are united in a massive-scale battle, and that plan is unfolding step by step, one certainly sees why someone would want to tell this story and pull it off with such spectacle. However, this film is as dry as the desert itself.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist
‘4’, the opening track on Richard D James’ (Aphex Twin) self titled 1996 album is a piece of music that beautifully balances the chaotic with the serene, the oppressive and the freeing. It’s a trick that James has pulled off multiple times throughout his career and it is a huge part of what makes him such an iconic and influential artist. Many people have laid the “next Aphex Twin” label on musicians who do things slightly different and when you actually hear their music you realise that, once again, the label is flawed and applied with a lazy attitude. Why mention this? Well, it turns out we’ve been looking for James’ heir apparent in the wrong artform. We’ve so zoned in on music that we’ve not noticed that another Celtic son of Cornwall is rewriting an art form with that highwire balancing act between chaos and beauty. That artist is writer, director and composer Mark Jenkin who over his last two feature films has announced himself as an idiosyncratic voice who is creating his very own language within the world of cinema. Jenkin’s films are often centred around coastal towns or islands and whilst they are experimental or even unsettling, there is always a big heart at the centre of the narrative. A heart that cares about family, tradition, culture, and the pull of ‘home’. Even during the horror of 2022’s brilliant Enys Men you were anchored by the vulnerability and determination of its main protagonist.
This month sees the release of Jenkin’s latest feature film, Rose of Nevada, which is set in a fractured and diminished Cornish coastal town. One day the fishing boat of the film’s title arrives back in harbour after being missing for thirty years. The boat is unoccupied. And frankly that is all the information you are going to get because to discuss any more plot would be unfair on you and disrespectful to Jenkin and the team behind the film. You the viewer should be the one who decides what it is about because thematically there are so many wonderful threads to pull on. This writer’s opinions on what it is about have ranged from a theme of sacrifice for the good of a community to the conflict within when part of you wants to run away from your roots whilst the other half longs to stay and be a lifelong part of its tapestry. Is it about Brexit? Could be. Is it about our own relationships with time and our curation of memory? Could be. Is it about both the positives and negatives of nostalgia? Could be. As a side note, anyone in their mid-40s, like me, who came of age in the 1990s will certainly find moments of warm recognition. Is the film about ghosts and how they haunt families? Could be…I think you get the point.
The elements that make the film so well balanced between chaos and calm are many. It is there in the differing performances between the brilliant two lead actors George MacKay and Callum Turner. It is there in the sound design which fluctuates from being unbearably harsh and metallic, to lulling and warm. It is there in the editing where short, sharp close ups on seemingly unimportant factors are counterbalanced with shots that are held for just that little bit too long. For a film set around the sea, it is apt that it can make you feel like you’re rolling on a stomach churning storm one minute, or a calming low tide the next. Dialogue can be front and centre or blurred and buried under static. One shot is bathed in harsh sunlight whilst the next can be drowned in interior shadows.
Rose of Nevada is Mark Jenkin’s most ambitious film to date yet he has not lost a single iota of innovation, singularity of vision or his gift for telling the most human of stories. It is a film that will tell you different things each time you see it and whilst there are moments that can confuse or beguile, there is so much empathy and love that it can leave you crying tears of emotional understanding. It is chaotic. It is beautiful. It is life……
Rose of Nevada is released on the 24th April.
Mark Jenkin Instagram | Threads
Released through the BFI – Instagram | Facebook
Review by Simon Tucker
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