Tamil superstar Thalapathy Vijay's latest theatrical outing, Leo released in theaters today. The film is directed by talented Lokesh Kanagaraj. Here is our review of the film.
Story: A calm and serene natured café owner Leo Das (Vijay) becomes a local hero through an act of violence, which sets off repercussions with connections to an old life he left behind Antony Das(Arjun Sarja), shaking his newly constructed life to its very core.
How did the actors perform?
The main man Vijay is the star of the show and he runs it from the front with his towering performance. This is the most challenging role he had done in the recent past and he shoulders it a great deal.
Trisha, Arjun Sarja, and others play important roles and they deliver a fiery performance. Sanjay Dutt looks menacing, as he should.
What about the technical finesse?
The director Lokesh Kanagaraj picks a dated story and presents it in his own style. But there is a fair bit of lag and speedbumps in both halves that come to te undoing of the good work.
Anirudh is one the main heroes of the film as he absolutely kills it with his stunning background score. He is a generational talent and proves it again with Leo.
Analysis:
The core plot of Leo is such that a has-been don lives a peaceful life in Kashmir and he is then forced to get back to the groove following a violent confrontation with a baddie. The same plot has been used multiple times in the past but Lokesh makes a wee bit more interesting with his screenplay.
The issue here is that the audience can easily gues what is about to happen next, which takes away the excitement factor. The screenplay has a few bright moments here and there but they are outnumbered by bland and predictable scenes.
The interval fight and the cafe scene are of premium quality, as one would expect from Lokesh Kanagaraj.
But the latter half lets go off all the steam with boring set of sequences taking over. Better narration in the second half could have worked the trick for the film.
Verdict: Leo is a mildly engaging actioner with a few things going its way amidst the predictable narrative. A better second half could have worked wonderfully well for the film. It can be watched by action lovers but for the rest, it is a mixed bag.
Rating: 2.5/5
