My ears are literally ringing.
Just stumbled out of the cinema and into the cold night air and I think my brain is still vibrating. That sound system. They weren't kidding. When the first bomb went off in that opening sequence, my whole seat shook. The guy next to me actually spilled his popcorn. A cascade of buttery nuggets hitting the sticky floor. Served him right for crunching so loud during the dialogue.
g20. I mean, what did I just watch? It was like a fever dream that lasts for two and a half hours. A beautiful, loud, confusing, completely insane fever dream. The screen was so massive, when they were doing those aerial shots of Rio, I felt vertigo. I had to grab the armrests. For a second I forgot I was in a dingy multiplex in the suburbs.
The plot. God, the plot. Something about a currency manipulation scheme? A shadow cabal? A double agent inside the German delegation? I was following it, I swear. I was leaning so far forward, my back is killing me now. And then there were like, three different betrayals in the span of ten minutes and I just gave up trying to keep track. I just let the chaos wash over me. It was probably better that way.
There's this one shot. It's stuck in my head and I can't shake it. It's not a big action scene. It's just a close-up on the main character, this translator played by whatever-her-name-is, the one from that sci-fi show last year. She's in the middle of a tense negotiation, and the camera is just locked on her face. She's not speaking, just listening to the Russian ambassador through her earpiece. And you see a single tear well up in her eye. Not because she's sad, but because she's just realized something. The camera holds there for what feels like an eternity. Just her eye, reflecting the lights of the conference room. The tear doesn't fall. It just sits there. Why is that the shot I can't un-see? It has nothing to do with anything.
It reminded me of that time I went on that school trip to the UN building in eighth grade. I was so convinced I was going to be a diplomat. I bought a tie and everything. We were in the observation gallery, watching some boring debate about fishing rights, and I saw one of the translators in their little glass box. They looked so powerful, so essential. Like they held the whole world's conversations in their head. I thought, that's going to be me. And then I got a C- in Spanish the next year and... well, that dream died a quick death.
Honestly, the whole thing was completely over-the-top. The car chase through the streets of Bali where the protagonist is on a moped being chased by a tank? A TANK. I thought I loved it. My heart was pounding out of my chest. But now that I'm sitting here typing this... was it actually kind of dumb? Like, really, really dumb? A tank in a city with that much traffic? The logistics alone... I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Maybe you're not supposed to think about the logistics of a moped-versus-tank chase.
The ending was a total blur. Everyone shouting. Flags being waved. A dramatic walk-and-talk down a hallway that was, like, a mile long. I think the good guys won? Or did they? Maybe the cabal won and the whole world is secretly controlled by them now. The ending was so ambiguous it could go either way. I liked that. Or did I? I hate ambiguous endings. I'm so conflicted.
The theater experience itself was a trip. It was packed. Some guy two rows in front of me was on his phone, the blue light glowing like a little beacon of pure evil during a really dark, tense scene. I wanted to hurl my jumbo-sized Coke at his head. But I didn't. I just seethed in my seat. It's part of the experience, I guess. The shared annoyance. The collective groan when his phone lit up again.
I'm still processing it all. It was too much. Too loud, too long, too complicated. But also... kind of perfect? I don't know. My brain feels like scrambled eggs. I need to go home and watch a cartoon. Something with no plot and bright colors.
Anyway, my phone's about to die.
7.5/10
-Alex
Trailer English - https://youtu.be/mhQcpvKHis4?si=5sjCdwUw3eroU0Ru
Trailer Hindi - https://youtu.be/yDbT-wUpRRo?si=DeIcvLKCBPrJD9Zc
Review English - https://youtu.be/Ocu70vQnp1Q?si=-r6lFEfCIdlZawV6
Review Hindi - https://youtu.be/czaOES143go?si=Ea8OZdPXEC_jex7Q
EXPLANATION english - https://youtu.be/ZdR65xUzvHk?si=OV901pwF9G7uKB01
EXPLANATION hindi - https://youtu.be/yIe-_DQApas?si=6_kutBMPAPapAMI5