Movie Review : Force 2

Cast: John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Adil Hussain, Narendra Jha
Director: Abhinay Deo

In this sequel to the 2011 ‘Force’, ACP Yashvardhan returns in a faster, more thrilling actioner, set mostly in grand, scenic Budapest, which has been used as a hotbed of espionage in several flicks. Scratch that. ‘Force 2’ aims for all of those things, and by rights, should have been all of those things, but ends up feeling overlong and stretched, and more than anything else, over familiar.

That’s the problem when you try doing a Bond-Bourne combo full of bristling cops and smart spies and twisted villains, and sexy Mata Hari types, but you end up papering over the thrills and spills by Bollywood-style swelling background music, and a female lead in a complicated relationship with her gun.

In the first one, Yashvardhan (John Abraham) was a battering ram, all flint-eyed and stone-hearted after the death of his pretty wife. Five years later, the cop is given a good-looking RAW agent KK aka Kamaljit Kaur (Sonakshi Sinha), who is strictly business, attired in collared shirts and holstered guns and a raised eyebrow. But underneath all the confident bluster, there’s just a silly little girl.

In Hollywood, KK would have been allowed to kick serious butt. But because this is Bollywood, the female RAW agent is made into a creature who quivers and squeals and says, “Yash, don’t do that”. That’s her job description, and it’s already old by the time the first time she uses it.

That apart, the briskness with which you should come at car chases and rooftop races, is missing. They go on for far too long: both Bond and Bourne and their copies have been in existence for too long, we see their repeats on TV all the time. So what are you giving us that’s new?

Abraham is efficient and does what he needs to. His super toned muscles are used well to get rid of the bad guys, but not even the most impressive bod can rise above a sluggish script.

Tahir Raj Bhasin is the interesting element in ‘Force 2’, and he tries bringing a bit of complexity to the way he plays bad guy Shiv Sharma’s part, but again gets buried in all the obviousness. There’s a tiny sparkle at one point when a leather-clad hottie propositions Yashvardhan: both John Abraham and Sonakshi Sinha get us to smile in the way they handle that situation. Now a little more of that—a twinkly awareness that they are treading a well-known path—would have made ‘Force 2’ a much more rewarding watch.

The way it plays out, ‘Force 2’ forces us to stray far too much in the been there-seen that territory.

The Original Director - Nishikant Kamath and the Kick ASS and Menacing Villain "Vidyut Jamval" are seriously missed.

My Rating : 1.5 / 5