Fateh

FATEH is a film that takes a fairly good idea, but dumb it down due to simplistic execution. Thankfully, the film isn't selling itself on the strength of its story, as the focus is clearly on its brutal R-rated action. It's a good thing that the action delivers, although it too suffers from some minor issues like excessive use of shaky cam, firing limitless amount of bullets from a single gun, villains conveniently not having guns or not choosing to shoot from long distance when hero is unarmed etc. For a first timer director, Sonu Sood does an admiring job, and he excels physically too in the lead role as the mysterious assassin. While watching this film, I got reminded of BEEKEEPER. The best thing that I liked about this film is that right from the beginning, there were no dull moments, and even though the film turned farfetched in many parts, it remained engaging throughout.

If the story was given a little more care, this could have turned into something really great. Alas! It wasn't meant to be.

A big shoutout to Vijay Raaz, the man totally chewed the scenery whenever he was on the screen. Although I was very disappointed by Naseer Sahab; not sure what went wrong, but he wasn't even a tiny bit menacing as the main antagonist. Jacqueline is meh (as always), and the decision to make his relationship with Fateh as a romantic one was clearly a mistake.

Overall, FATEH is a decent film that works due to its admirable idea and good action, although it would have worked even better had the screenplay been not so basic and improbable, and the core idea not so oversimplified.