Sardar 2 Review: When Karthi’s spy thriller Sardar came out in 2022, it was a blockbuster and four years later, director PS Mithran follows it up with a sequel. Sardar 2 is now bigger and more ambitious with additional characters and yes, Karthi in the double role. But is bigger always better?
Sardar 2 sees Vijay Prakash aka Viji (Karthi) in the espionage world but it goes international with a theme that brings in the bio-pharmaceutical world. Sardar 2 sees Viji getting into a clash with Black Dagger (SJ Suryah) who wants to get his hands on Doku, a bio-chemical weapon that can wipe out lakhs of people in seconds. Doku has been kept hidden by three RAW agents who each hold a key that gives access to the bio-weapon. The movie then brings in Chandra Bose aka Sadar’s (Karthi) past and tells us how he was involved with Doku which wiped out 3000 people in a village. Despite Sardar’s desperate attempt to get the anti-dote, Colisten, from Japan and save the villagers, he fails, sending him spiralling into a life of guilt.
In the present day, Black Dagger’s attempt to steal Doku is being thwarted by RAW and Viji. However, it is Sardar who can help in this endeavour and he makes his entry at the right time to join hands with his son, Viji, to save the country and the world. How this journey unfolds and what are the challenges that Sardar and Viji face forms the rest of the story.
In the sequel, director PS Mithran retains the franchise’s interest in a contemporary issue that affects the common man (antibiotics in this film). The problem is the way this story has been packaged. Being nearly three hours long, the movie stretches (especially in the second half) where there are speeches and scenes that focus too much on the scale of the conspiracy, what Doku can do, how antibiotics affect people, etc. The revenge angle of a boy who grows up to turn vengeful against those he perceives as having let him down, is also not new. That plot point is a little weak.
As a result, the screenplay doesn’t get us emotionally invested in the story. The audience just doesn’t feel the urgency to save Doku from the hands of the vicious Black Dagger. There is little suspense in the film – it’s relatively straight-forward and the audience knows what to expect as there are hardly any twists and turns. This is where Sardar (2022) clearly scores over the sequel. Mithran has all the right ideas but falters in the economy in joining and executing them. The movie ends up being more ambitious and longer but also ends up being very uneven.
The strongest aspect of the film is Karthi and his performance as both Sardar and Viji. He’s totally invested in Mithran’s world and the different nuances he brings to both roles (like in terms of gestures and voice modulation) is very effective in conveying emotions. SJ Suryah is a suave villain and performs well but unfortunately, his character is not strongly etched and is a let-down. Malavika Mohanan and Ashika Ranganath have good character arcs and deliver, while Rajisha Vijayan is cute in the backstory. Some of the other characters like Yogi Babu and Nizhalgal Ravi try to bring comic relief but they have very small roles and this is not effective.
Technically, the film uses a lot of CG and VFX and it’s ok for the most part. Editing could have been much tighter to reduce the length and trim down lengthy scenes. Music director Sam CS seems to have lost his touch a little for this film as the BGM didn’t complement the film. For instance when Sardar makes his entry, it’s an elevation scene but the BGM lacked that punch.
On the whole, Sardar 2 is an ambitious film that’s overstuffed and lengthy. Karthi is the stand out of this film whose prequel still outshines this one.
Also Read | “Hindi Films Are Producer-Centric, Tamil Films Director-Centric”: Sardar 2 Director PS Mithran
