CAST :Vijay, Samantha, Kajal Aggarwal, Nithya Menen, SJ Suryah, Sathyaraj, Vadivelu, Kovai Sarala, Haresh Peradi
DIRECTION : Atlee
GENRE : Action
DURATION : 2 hours 50 minutes
Mersal deals with Vetri a magician and Maran a doctor who are brothers separated from their past reunite to avenge their father's death.A few individuals in the medical profession are murdered or kidnapped, and the cop investigating the case suspects a doctor and arrests him.
The film begins with the kidnapping of a few individuals and the arrest of Dr Maaran (Vijay), who, the investigating officer Rathnavel (Sathyaraj) believes is the mastermind. As he interrogates the doctor on why he let himself get captured, he learns that it is actually Vetri (Vijay) , a magician - and a look-alike of Maaran - who has committed these crimes.There can be no doubt that Mersal is a story written for actor Vijay. Each frame, dialogue, action and reaction celebrates the actor, and what he does best. Vijay is better off when he spews dialogue with restraint. Not loud, but he levels off well with SJ Suryah, who is a theatrical foil.
Mersal has a narrative flow that keeps the audience curious all along as the protagonist is on a mission to terminate rotten medical practitioners. The screenplay aims at confusing the audience to make them believe that a magician-doctor is on a killing spree as it wants to set them up for a big surprise revelation. The surprise is that the protagonist has an identical twin, who reveals his identity in a pre-interval action sequence. It would have been, indeed, a major twist in the narration, only if the filmmakers had taken extra care to prevent spoilers.
The success of any revenge-based masala movie is the effectiveness of its antagonist and it is here that Mersal feels a little underwhelming. Atlee seems to have wanted an antagonist who is suave and sinister, but perhaps because we have only recently seen a terrifically over-the-top SJ Suryah in Spyder, his characterisation of Daniel Arockiaraj here comes across as a rather subdued villain, even though the actor does well. The fight for land, the fight against corruption and capitalism has translated into a good popcorn entertainer that celebrates, Ilayathalapathy, now Thalapathy.
The one thing that could have been avoided was the stretchy second half and the manner in which Samantha’s character’s arc is resolved. This does make one wonder if the director tried to pack a little too much in the film than was needed.
Mersal promised to be a good masala entertainer and it delivers on it.
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