RRR

This epic action action drama has been cheered by reviewers, who, by percentage, like it almost as much as fans. It has been approved by 92 percent of critics, only two percent shy of its current “audience score” on Rotten Tomatoes. The question is does the movie live up to the hype?

I say, happily, yes. Epics aren’t easy to pull off. The last one I saw, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, proves why. However much I appreciated many parts of that movie (the sound, the production design, the visual effects, and the cinematography), the plot and characters lacked spirit. Simply, put, it’s difficult to get all (or nearly all) the parts of an epic to work. A director can get the technical aspects damn near perfect and still miss the target because of a weak script. RRR, a Teluga-language effort from S. S. Rajamouli, was in movie theaters earlier this year and can be seen on Netflix, where it is presently playing. I heartily recommend it.

Loosely based on true stories of two 20th century Indian revolutionaries, Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.), a a Gond tribal leader, and Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan), an ambitious police officer. In the 1920s, Bheem, pretending to be a Muslim named Akhtar (because the authroities are searching for him), comes to Delhi to find and bring back a girl, Malli (Twinkle Sharma), he considers his siter, who was kidnapped by Governor Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his wife Catherine (Alison Doody). Raju, hoping to rise in the British ranks, volunteers to hunt him down. Bheem and Raj meet each other and quickly form a deep bond, though Bheem doesn’t know Raj trying to locate him and Raj doesn’t realize Bheem is the man he’s after. While in real life, there’s no evidence of the two meeting, Bheem and Raj, in the movie, join forces and perform outstanding feats.

The inciting incident hooked me minutes into the movie. Malli’s abduction and the dreadful fashion in which Indians are spoken about (Buxton says they aren’t worth a British bullet) and treated are galling. Rajamouli next focuses on Raj, who pursues an Indian who has broken a framed picture. He goes into a crowd of thousands who are against him and tries to retrieve him. Seeing him getting punched, pulled, and struck on the head and still fight back indomitably is astonishing and easily one of the best sequences I have seen this year. Rajamouli switches to Bheem, who runs from a wolf and a tiger. The camera films the action from different angles, sometimes rushing toward Bheem and the tiger, viewing the chase overhead, and sometimes using close-ups (e.g., the profile shot of the tiger roaring and Bheem roaring back). As extraordinary as Raj’s perseverance is, Bheem’s survival skills are just as impressive.

The memorable scenes don’t end there. Bheem’s attack on Buxton’s residence soars, both visually and dramatically. He must fight an unexpected antagonist who’s as resolute about stopping him as Bheem is about rescuing Malli. On an action level, it’s rousing, but Bheem’s sense of betrayal is also emotionally gutting. There’s a splendid image: animals leaping out of the truck in very slow motion. Earlier, Bheem and Raju work together together to save a boy from an encroaching fire. The way they use a rope to accomplish the task is certainly not realistic; in fact, it’s ludicrous. The scene, though, satisfies, despite being crazily over-the-top.

Typically, saying a movie is “ludicrous” and “over-the-top” is a serious criticism (for me). That’s because most movies try to be life-like, so when they’re not and I’m taken out of the movie, it’s a big flaw. The action in RRR, however, is very different. Raju’s determination to track an Indian is so extraordinary it goes beyond what’s realistic, and the same goes for Bheem’s efforts to avoid the wolf and tiger. The action is heightened to the nth degree, and because that is established early, the movie is clearly not playing with normal, true-to-life rules. It would be wrong then to judge it harshly for being exaggerated when that’s the reason a lot of it is intoxicating.

With that being said, I have complaints. There are times when RRR is so ridiculous, it’s comical. (Mild spoilers) As Buxton rides in a car traveling toward Raju who’s in another vehicle, it hits a bump. After Buxton is knocked into the air, his rifle miraculously lifts into his arms. He shoots while he’s still in the air, too. The car Raju rides in flips (!), and he takes a right turn so wildly, it’s hilarious. Slow motion is used to good effect in several scenes (the animals jumping out of the truck toward Buxton’s residence is one example), but it’s used too frequently, rendering the slow motion in the final third less satisfying (as when Bheem and Raj work together to attack a guard on a platform). And the words don’t always match the characters’ mouth (e.g., a man tells a British authority figure there’s a “shephard” who will “retrieve the missing lamb”).

Rajamouli’s screenplay is nicely layered. He has Bheem and Raju become fine friends without really knowing each other. That allows Rajamouli to flesh out Raju’s tale in a way that enables the viewer to see him in anew. However brave Raju is, it’s easy to be baffled by his loyalty to the British, many of whom are cruel and sadistic in this film. Rajamouli’s flashback structure answers that concern, giving a fuller picture of who Raju is and why he acts as he does.

Did I mention there’s dancing? Yes, RRR is part action movie, part drama, and part musical. The dancing is nearly as impassioned as the action. Bheem and Raju even have a kind of dance-off, and it’s wonderfully entertaining. Since the dancing doesn’t involve the danger in the action or the sense of betrayal in the drama, the dance sections are the most joyful in the movie. They give off a Seven Brides for Seven Brothers-like vibe, though the dancing is more exuberant.

N. T. Rama Rao Jr. convinces as Bheem, handling the gentle and intense sides of his character with equal self-assurance. Ram Charan does more than show mere determination as Raju. His ferocity illustrates a character so steadfast and remarkable he at times comes to the doorstep of the supernatural (as with his extraordinary desire to capture a lawbreaker). And given how Rajamouli heightens his movie’s “reality,” Charan’s depiction fits the film perfectly. The lead actors are also appropriately ebullient during the dancing sequences. M. M. Keerivanni composed the score and the soundtrack, and both are winsome. My favorite song is the catchy “Dosti,” with its memorable refrain “Dara dum dara dum/Dara dum dum.”

The craft on display is outstanding. K. K. Senthil Kumar’s cinematography is very vibrant. There are multiple crowd scenes and the clarity with which the people in the background can be seen is impressive. Sabu Cyril’s production design is handsomely mounted, and his set pieces are easily the best I have seen this year. Rama Rajamouli, the director’s wife, made the top-drawer costumes, and A. Sreekar Prasad does the polished editing.

Although RRR is extremely long (three hours and seven minutes), the movie races by. Simply put, it’s great fun.