Movie Review: Annathai

Went in with a little over no expectations for this film. First Rajini movie to be released during the Pandemic.. And the movie didnt fail my expectations of not being a good movie at all. 

The story/plot is the first weakness of this movie. Its not anything new, fresh or even different. Take about a handful of old Rajini movies, Ajithkumar movies and Vijay movies, mash it together and you get Annaatthe. 

We start with present day, go into a flashback and go into a flashback of a flashback and then come back to the flashback and then the present day again. The movie is 2 hrs 55 mins but I felt like they could have easily cut off nearly 45 mins to 1 hour of scenes and the movie wouldn't have felt any different. 

In terms of cast, 

Rajini was the usual Rajini. Overacting at times and going beyond what fits his character at times. Personally only the action sequences of Rajini felt like they were done right. 

Keerthi Suresh has done her job perfectly. 

Nayantara was good as usual but why and how did a romance come between her and Rajini in the movie is a big question. Her character didnt need to have a relationship to do all what she did in the movie. 

Soori was good. But it didnt look like Soori was being natural. More like he was being directed on his comedy role. 

Why do we even have Meena, Kushbu, Livinston, Pandirajan, Sathish, Sathyan in this movie is beyond anyone's imagination. They do not add any value to the film except may be Kushbu and Meena on Rajini nostalgia. 

In terms of music, the Saara Saara song was completely unnecessary to the film. The opening track was ok (A little emotional when thinking that this was SPB's last song), all other song except the one sung by Sid Sriram were below par. The BGM was not impressive at all. The sound mixing is "vera level". There was a scene where the enemy was hit by a chain but we here the soft effect of a hand punch.. 

Editing was a total different mess. In the first half, you had scenes that were not connected or flowing at all. It was like several scenes in between were missing. You get the feeling of watching a camera copy where scenes go missing. 

Only thing I can appreciate about this movie is the cinematography. The film was full of colours and was balanced very well according to the scenes. Happy ones with multi coloured in bright light while negative scenes in dark like with dark colours. Absolutely loved that. 

Overall, the movie looked like a half baked job. Because its a Rajini movie, we keep watching hoping its going to get better but the disappointment only continues. Rajini has to come out strong with his next movie. 

If you are a real Rajini fan, go watch it and enjoy the Rajinism only. Nothing else. If you are not, then dont go with much expectation. 

My rating - 1.5/5