RRR (2022) Review

Time: 182 Minutes
Age Rating: Violence & cruelty
Cast:
N. T. Rama Rao Jr. as Komaram Bheem
Ram Charan as Alluri Sitarama Raju
Ajay Devgn as Alluri Venkatarama Raju
Alia Bhatt as Sita
Shriya Saran as Sarojini
Samuthirakani as Venkateswarulu
Ray Stevenson as Governor Scott Buxton
Alison Doody as Catherine Buxton
Olivia Morris as Jennifer “Jenny”
Director: S. S. Rajamouli

A fearless revolutionary and an officer in the British force, who once shared a deep bond, decide to join forces and chart out an inspirational path of freedom against the despotic rulers.

I admit that I’m not familiar with Indian cinema, I had been meaning to check out one of their movies for some time. However, I had been hearing about a particular Indian movie in the Telugu language (Tollywood) named RRR, which had been garnering quite the following and popularity worldwide. As someone who hasn’t watched any Indian cinema, I loved it.

RRR (Rise Roar Revolt) is a very well constructed movie. It is a lot: part action movie, part romantic comedy, and part historical drama. This means it can be tonally all over the place, going from dramatic and dark scenes of innocents being killed and children being kidnapped, to then cutting to upbeat scenes with dancing sequences. Still, it does actually work together quite well. It is an unabashedly wild movie, with over the top action and exhilarating musical numbers. There is a lot of genuine heart and emotional stakes too, especially with the central friendship, which is one of the most heartfelt and best bromances you’ll see in a movie. RRR is a very long movie at 3 hours in length, and while you do feel it, there’s so many things constantly happening that I was never bored.

The lead actors N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan are great, they really sell their characters and give sincere and layered performances. There is such strong chemistry between them, and you can really buy into their friendship. Most of the others performances are good too. The English actors generally weren’t that good; they were fittingly over the top and cartoonish, especially with the accents, but that’s it. For what its worth though, Ray Stevenson it at least entertainingly over the top as the main villain, and does seem to be working at the right level of silliness for this movie.

S.S. Rajamouli directs this incredibly well, the scale of the movie is immense and it has some top notch production value. The cinematography is stunning, with amazing use of colour and exciting camerawork, the editing works really well, and the costumes are good too. Even the occasionally shaky special effects add a lot to its personality. The action sequences are brilliant, so over the top, dynamic and creative. You’ll definitely need to suspend your disbelief, but its some of the most memorable action I’ve seen in recent years. The dance sequences are also worth noting, among the standout scenes in the film and are amazingly choreographed.

RRR is a bonkers, incredibly entertaining, and visually gorgeous spectacle, fantastically directed and with wonderfully over the top action. It’s such a breath of fresh air in terms of recent blockbusters, and such a crowd pleaser that its no surprise that this ended up being an international hit too. I highly recommend it, it’s one of my favourite experiences watching a movie in 2022.

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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Review

Time: 128 Minutes
Age Rating: Violence127
Cast:
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
Denholm Elliott as Marcus Brody
Alison Doody as Elsa Schneider
John Rhys-Davies as Sallah
Julian Glover as Walter Donovan
Sean Connery as Henry Jones, Sr.
Director: Steven Spielberg

In 1938, after his father Professor Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery), goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, Professor Henry “Indiana” Jones Jr. (Harrison Ford) finds himself up against Adolf Hitler’s Nazis again to stop them from obtaining its powers.

The main Indiana Jones trilogy is one of the most iconic cinematic trilogies of all time. After Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones goes back to familiar territory with the third instalment with The Last Crusade, but this leads to possibly the best movie in the entire series (at least close to it). Everything from the writing, direction and the performances are great, it is really entertaining and among my favourite movies.

The movie starts off on a high note with its introduction featuring a young Indiana Jones played by River Phoenix, and it only gets better from there. It keeps you constantly entertained from beginning to end with a great adventure that never has a dull moment. With that said it, it really picks up in such a massive way from the moment that Indiana Jones meets with his father, then it’s pretty much perfect all the way right to the very end. It is also the funniest of the movies by far, with some effective comedy that hits every time, and never gets annoying like how it got to at many points in Temple of Doom. Even the slapstick really ends up being quite funny. The biggest source of comedy in this movie as I’ll get into later is the interactions between Jones and his father. One thing with Raiders of the Lost Ark is that the third act while not bad wasn’t quite as strong as the rest of the movie. The climax of The Last Crusade on the other hand is creative and exciting, and by far the best of the series.

Harrison Ford is effortlessly great in his role of Indiana Jones, as to be expected. He sells every part of the character well, including the action and the comedy. Sean Connery was great as Jones’s father in one of his best performances (possible his best). It’s an unexpected casting considering Connery’s past roles with the likes of James Bond, but he works perfectly in here and was a perfect contrast to Ford. The dynamic and chemistry between these two just works excellently, which is good because they are a big focus of the movie from the first act onwards. The rest of the cast are good, including returning actors from the first movie with Denholm Elliott and John Rhys-Davies, and the main villain played by Julian Glover. It’s also worth noting that River Phoenix plays younger Indiana Jones for less than 10 minutes, but yet he played that part pretty much perfectly in his screentime.

Steven Spielberg’s direction was great, it’s got a very good look throughout at the various locations. There are some great set pieces from start to finish, in great locations. From a boat chase through Venice, to a tank battle with Nazis, all of these set pieces are fantastic, and are even just slightly a step above the action from Raiders of the Lost Ark (and that’s saying a lot). The score by John Williams was great as to be expected, it’s more upbeat and triumphant compared to the other scores in the series, and it’s very memorable.

My favourite Indiana Jones movie jumps between this and Raiders of the Lost Ark, for now I’ll put them on the same level. The direction is great, it is witty and entertaining from beginning to end, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery are excellent, and overall it very well balanced. This and Raiders of the Lost Ark are firmly among my favourite movies, and are definitely worth watching (as is the whole series).