Phantom which is based on Hussain Zaidi’s “Mumbai Avengers” is a deep-dyed bollywood style fantasy tale which is a mix of drama, facts, fiction and imagination.
Directed by Kabir Khan, this patriotic action thriller is based on an extremely painful and controversial issue, which is THE MUMBAI TERROR ATTACKS.
Phantom is about a fictional character, Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan) who is sent across the border by RAW officers on a secret mission which is to eliminate the masterminds of the 26/11 terror attacks with the help of Nawaz (Katrina Kaif) who works for an American Company and who is also an ex RAW agent.
The movie also attempts to tell you about the plight of the citizens of both the nations as the tale of a Pakistani mother who lost her son to LeT is also shown briefly.
Hence, the movie surely is not anti-pakistan, it is anti-terrorism.
In spite of the fact that all this sounds very interesting and intriguing, somehow this movie has a good deal of flaws and shortcomings which surely, doesn’t make this one a great piece of cinema.
Phantom could have been an edge-of-the-seat thriller but sadly, it was neither engaging nor rousing.
WOOS –
- Firstly, the main thing which drags you into the cinema halls is the movie’s trailer. The trailer gave everyone an adrenaline rush and surely left us all with high hopes. However, those high hopes crashed immediately after the movie started as it was simply not that fascinating and electrifying.
- When it comes to the storyline and the plot, I would say that both are really powerful and Phantom has given us all a story which is very fascinating to know about.
- The movie has some impressive action sequences and Kabir Khan has mounted them skilfully. For a movie like Phantom, good action sequences are a must, and Kabir Khan has done full justice to it.
- The second half particularly keeps you very engrossed in the movie with some edgy and nail biting scenes.
MEHS –
- The movie starts with a car-chasing scene in Chicago which keeps you engaged for a few minutes. However, after a few minutes, the movie becomes very chaotic as there is too much to take in.
In some scenes; it actually feels like the director is rushing which ultimately leaves the audience in a state of confusion as so many things are left unexplained.
The first half particularly had many scenes which could have been easily removed as they were simply not needed. Through these scenes, Kabir Khan and his team has tried very hard to impress and excite the audience but sadly, these were the scenes which left the audience in a state of lack of certainty.
All of this just portrayed a poor direction, screenplay and editing. - It is said that, actors and script are two things which can make or break a film and somehow, in this movie, Saif and Katrina have not been able to create any sort of magic on screen.
Honestly, the film could have done wonders if Saif and Katrina had more than one expression on their face the whole time. Whereas, the other actors in the film did a phenomenon job, in fact, they were far better than Katrina and Saif in the movie.
- Above all, the ending of the movie could have been much better as it was rather abrupt and blunt. Sadly, there was nothing inspiring or moving about the ending and it goes without saying, it could have been of a much higher quality.
- The dialogues in the movie were exceptionally clumsy, the transitions are jumpy and altogether, the movie isn’t crisp and impactful.
Image : google Imag
VERDICT –
As a whole, this movie can be easily skipped and is not in the ‘can’t miss it’ bracket for sure!
Phantom could have been a very clever film and a movie for which bollywood and the audience has been waiting for years. Rather, it was dissatisfying and extremely disappointing.
Phantom is like the movie A Wednesday, which was also wishful thinking, except, no body regretted watching that movie.
RATING –
This movie deserves nothing more than 2 stars out of 5.
