New Delhi: It’s time for Salman Khan’s annual Eid offering, and it’s no surprise that it has little to compete with in movie theatres—at least this week. In the absence of any major Hollywood or regional film releases, the action thriller is ready to dominate screens through Friday.
Race 3 reviews deemed the Remo D’Souza directorial a doomed adventure. Gulf News says the thriller reeks of bad writing, terrible dialogues, pretentious acting and a lame plot. It’s also a classic example of how throwing wads of cash into an action thriller and dolling it up with snazzy cars or having its stars do slow motions cannot save the day. Even Khan’s charisma and star power fails to ignite this colossal mess, says the review. Race 3 splutters to life in bits and parts, but it’s a mammoth letdown.
Masala.com calls Race 3 the perfect example of an ageing superstar banking on nothing more than his shirtless act to push forward a Bollywood franchise that was never meant to be. Every actor, when not speeding in a supercar or firing away guns, gets a song and lavish set pieces to perform in. Cinematographer Ayananka Bose’s frames filter out every little blemish, every wrinkle and make them insta-glorious. The men have their muscles ripped while the women wear their perfect curls and flutter their eyelashes. Basically, what the acting crew lacks in talent, they make up by glamming up and flashing their gym bodies. All this could’ve been forgiven, if the fight was worth the punch. At over 160-minutes, Race 3 ends up unintentionally comical, highly illogical and horrendously tacky.
In the south, Tamil action drama Goli Soda 2—directed by Vijay Milton starring Chemban Vinod Jose, Rohini, Subiksha and Krisha Kurup—features many fresh faces and a rousing background score, but loud and over-the-top action sequences in the second half are off-putting, says Film Companion. The film looks extremely promising at the halfway mark, but dips slightly due to the exaggerated action scenes that follow. Milton, however, largely succeeds with his Goli Soda recipe.
Several releases this week haven’t inspired any reviews yet. These include Tamil drama Ennodu Nee Irundhal, Kannada romantic thriller Megha Alias Maggi, Malayalam social comedy drama Njan Marykutty, Bengali comedy Bhaijaan Elo Re and Bengali action thriller Sultan:The Saviour.