Though Abhinay Deo is mostly recognized for the comedy ‘Delhi Belly’, the director has sufficiently dabbled in thrillers as well. Though ‘Game’, save for some interesting moments, was a forgettable affair, he managed to pack in a lot of slickness in the television show ’24 India’, the majority of episodes of which were directed by him. While the Nishikant Kamat directed ‘Force’ was a remake of a Tamil film (‘Kaakha Kaakha’), ‘Force 2’ is based on an original story. Despite having a fairly good director and borrowing the basic plot from a highly acclaimed film, ‘Force’ was not the kind of film that remained etched in one’s memory for a long time. With Abhinay taking charge of the second instalment, one expects the franchise to have a better film to its name.
After realizing that death is just round the corner, RAW agent Harish (Farhad) sends a book with a cryptic message written on it to his friend officer Yashvardhan Singh. After decoding the message which he feels would help him trace the person, who is behind the murder of Harish and several other RAW agents, Yashvardhan seeks the help of the Government and asks him to send him to Budapest to nab the culprit. He is asked to join hands with RAW agent Kamaljeet Kaur AKA KK (Sonakshi Sinha). They reach Budapest and after going through the profiles of several suspects, they zero in on Shiv Sharma (Tahir Raj Bhasin). Shiv gives them a tough time but finally, they manage to get the better of him. Just when they are about to deport Shiv to a helicopter that would take him to India, he gets shot in his chest leaving the authorities with no hope of saving the RAW agents whose lives are in danger.
When the closing credits of the film start rolling, you realize the film has delivered an important message but at the same time, it has borrowed elements from several Hollywood thrillers without offering much of a novel plot. Visually, ‘Force 2’ is miles ahead of its predecessor. Director Abhinay Deo puts his best foot forward and offers us some stunning visuals. But, the script (Pervez Sheikh, Jasmeet K Reen) has its limitations. The first half, despite largely revolving around a cat-and-mouse game between Shiv and Yashvardhan-KK, has a brisk pace and the interval point ends with a very interesting cliff-hanger. The second half, however, ends up being deeply problematic as it resorts to clichés every now and then and offers quick fix solutions to complex problems which the cops seem to be grappling with.
Apart from the director, one needs to commend action director Franz Sphilhaus for making the film consistently watchable. The action sequence in the climax, using a body-mount rig, has a unique, video-game like feel to it. The camerawork (Mohana Krishna and Imre Juhasz) is very good. Another factor that works in favour of the film is the fact that no comic sequence or romantic scenes has been woven into the script to act as ‘relief’ in an action film. Songs (Gourov-Roshin and Amaal Mallik) have been used minimally and the only full-fledged track (“Oh Jaaniya”) acts as a minor deviance. The background score (Prasad Sashte) is one of the best that one has heard this year. The way music has been used in some important scenes to elevate the tension is commendable.
There is barely in any growth in the character of Yashvardhan from the part. As always, John uses minimal expressions and lets his muscles do all the talking. Sonakshi Sinha plays the part of a tough cop dealing with her own insecurities pretty well. Though Tahir Raj Bhasin’s part seems like an extension of the one he played in ‘Mardaani’, he gets some really good scenes to show how good he is as an actor. Genelia Deshmukh’s presence, in a cameo, is highly impactful.
‘Force 2’ is a marginally better product than its predecessor. The film has some great, stylised action sequences, spiffy camerawork and a director who knows his job. If this film works and the makers decide to make another installment, they should come armed with a better script.
Rating: 2.5/5