Review: Greatest Of All Time (GOAT)
If you don’t subject the film to intense scrutiny and if you can overlook the lapses in logic in the film, GOAT is a reasonable entertainer that is fairly engaging.
Film: The Greatest Of All Time (GOAT)
Director: Venkat Prabhu
Cast: Vijay, Sneha, Prabhu Deva, Prashanth, Jayaram, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Laila, Mohan, Ajmal Amir and others
Cinematography: Siddhartha Nuni
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Producers: A G S Entertainment
Rating: 3 stars
Venkat Prabhu delivers a proper commercial entertainer, with all the elements that fans of actor Vijay would have expected to see in a film featuring their favourite hero.
If you don’t subject the film to intense scrutiny and if you can overlook the lapses in logic in the film, GOAT is a reasonable entertainer that is fairly engaging.
Synopsis
The story begins with an elite unit of the Special Anti Terrorism Squad recovering stolen Uranium from a notorious terrorist. In the process of recovering the Uranium, the SATS team, led by Gandhi (Vijay), ends up blowing a train. The team believes they have eliminated all the bad guys and celebrate. Gandhi’s next mission is in Thailand. To pacify his wife Anu (Sneha), who thinks her husband has fallen for another woman, Gandhi chooses to take his family along with him for his next mission. However, tragedy strikes Gandhi and his family in Thailand. What happens then is what the film is all about…
Venkat Prabhu, who knows how to churn out entertainers, delivers this time too. He comes up with a fairly engaging action thriller that has enough twists in it to keep you interested in the plot.
The first half of the film is easily the better half as the story breezes along at a gentle pace and it ends with a fantastic interval block that nicely sets the stage for an interesting second half.
The second half too moves at a good pace but it is unnecessarily long. The random twists in the plot are what save the day for the director. The climax in particular is awfully long, almost making you wish it would end.
Strengths…
Vijay comes up with a neat performance as the father. He delivers what is expected of him, although it takes time for you to get used to seeing him in this get up.
Prashanth, Sneha, Prabhu Deva and Jayaram are big strengths for the film. All of them deliver good performances in their respective roles as supporting characters.
Sneha as Anu is impressive. Modest, measured and impactful, her performance is the best in the first half.
Actor Prashanth catches your eye in the fast paced number that comes in the first half. Despite being heavy, he manages to match both Vijay and Prabhu Deva step for step. The man also seems to have delivered a fine performance as a friend and a member of the SATS force.
Most stunts in the film are good. The same can be said with regard to most songs in the film.
Weaknesses…
Vijay’s younger version created with the help of CG is not exactly appealing. It takes a while for you to get used to the look he sports as the son. One other aspect that is annoying about both the father and son characters is the unruly hair style that both characters sport. The hair style reminds you of hairs standing on edge on the head of one who is electrocuted.
The story has several basic logical lapses. Another big problem is the duration of the film, which is unduly long.
Verdict:
In all, GOAT is neither an outstanding film nor a boring stodgy film that is unbearable. It is a regular commercial entertainer, aimed at pleasing fans of Vijay. It is bound to leave you delighted if you are a Vijay fan and reasonably satisfied if you are not. Either way, this is a film that can be watched once.
