The British Raj and the whole British Empire era is nothing to celebrate for most modern Brits. In fact, it’s more of a source of embarrassment if anything. I’m sure India doesn’t look back too fondly on those days either.
Set in the 1930s, King Rajadhipathi (Jayaprakash) refuses to allow commoners into a local temple where a statue of the deity Ayyanar Koranar sits. Only the rich and powerful are permitted entry. This angers one villager, Easa (Dhanush), who feels that joining the British Indian Army is the only way he will get any respect, which he does and he is rechristened Miller.
When a soldier shoots himself after their squad were ordered to shoot a group of unarmed Indian protestors out of guilt, Miller kills his commanding officer. Returning home to his village, Miller finds out his own brother was among those killed which sees him join a gang of revolutionaries and gain some notoriety. Shot during a raid, Miller is treated by Velmathi (Priyanka Arul Mohan), the King’s niece, who asks Miller to kill Riley (Alexx O’Nell), son of a British Governor, to avenger her husband’s death.
The volatile political foundations driving Captain Miller’s story is one thing that script doesn’t feel needs addressing significantly. Then again if it did It’d be longer than its bum numbing 156-minutes but there’s plenty the script fails to discuss during this epic run time which is a shame as many areas are in need of fleshing out yet I imagine there’ll be ample balance for many viewers with the spectacular battles?
Bollywood cinema has ridiculous run times that rarely justify themselves and once in a while you come across one that might prove an exception on paper this being one such film however director Arun Matheswaran has instead chosen to take the audience on a wild ride and hope that suffices for optimum entertainment along the way, which in all fairness it does succeed on that front.
If you’re unfamiliar with the British Raj then this film isn’t going to give you a history lesson that’s practically a given from reading the plot synopsis alone but also because of the perspective the story is being told from. Not to say India doesn’t have a right to put their own patriotic/exaggerated spin on this subject China and America do it all the time but it’s one that needs a little balance in explaining the British stance too.
Lacking an objective strain in its narrative means one-dimensional antagonists with comparatively minimal screen time except for General Wandy (Edward Sonnenblick), the nominal “final boss” of the evil British oppressors, this puts more onus on the premise/effect of the Raj as cause for Miller’s rebellion than actual perpetrators while simultaneously not delving deep enough into Indians who sidled up to enemy, an equally vital issue I would have thought.
Velmathi is a conduit for this, having grown up with a king for an uncle after her father died. That is why she ultimately left home and became a doctor instead of resting on her laurels or taking advantage of her connections. When Miller finds out she’s married, Velmathi’s role as his love interest ends abruptly; they meet again later in life but remain friends.
Normally I’d be knee-deep in plot discussion by now but the reason I’m not is because there isn’t much plot to discuss or, rather, there’s too much. Plus it’s all told through flashback which can get a little confusing. The movie starts with an old woman telling the story of Ayyanar Koranar to some kids then we flash back (or forward? at first it’s unclear) to kick off our tale.
Over the next two and half hours we will see alliances form and break, gun battles and explosions aplenty, a heist (followed by more gun battles), fights (followed by more explosions), executions (and yes more flashbacks), an uprising (leading to more explosions), a body count that has to be seen to be believed, some surprise returns from the dead, tragedies galore, and enough Indian pride to fill several movies. Also one musical number that could have been cut and given its time over to fleshing out the support cast.
Miller is given most screen time as the central protagonist but he isn’t the only one with something at stake you just wouldn’t know it from reading the script. We needed to know more about Miller’s older brother Sengolan (Shiva Rajkumar), Kannaya (Elango Kumaravel), one the head rebels, and Thaenu (Nivedhithaa Sathish), the kick-ass female rebel who besides Velmathi is the only other woman with anything approaching a prominent role.
But this is unabashedly a genre film and genre films are nothing if not all about the sizzle. It does do a nice job of spinning a yarn you can follow and making clear enough what’s at stake that it doesn’t feel entirely without purpose; it’s just that having to fill two-and-a-half hours creates the illusion of being more empty than it actually is. And an easy fix would have been cutting 40 minutes or so.
Matheswaran really goes for broke in terms of bombastic action in the second half, keen to match Hollywood for bombast. There’s an Eiffel Tower-sized stack of gun battles and explosions (preceded by a heist) before we get to one of the most memorable set pieces, which involves Miller on horseback mowing down his enemies with a massive machine gun while riding through a hail of bullets from two helicopters above him. Then there are some more gun battles, followed by some more explosions.
Captain Miller is too good looking and engrossing to look away from but isn’t emotionally fulfilling enough to be truly great although I’m not sure how much greatness was ever on the table here and damn it left me wanting so much more than I got.
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