Varisu Review (2023)

See its simple, people. This is not a bad film at all on its own. The best comparison to this is an MCU film.

We have a villain who has some stupid problem with the hero, not the protagonist but hero, and somehow wants to destroy him. Ofc the hero is a person who is a All in All Azhagu Raja by the commercial cinema template. Loving family, relationship with mother, sibling problems etc are the things these films come around just like how the MCU has every villain refer to the Quantum Realm. There are songs, fights, comedy just like how there is the famous MCU one-liners, jabbing humour into every situation shit, CGI filled climax fights and a mandatory post credits scene. So every MCU film is similar. Yes. Do we rant on how MCU films are mainly the same thing? No Does that mean Varisu is a good commercial film? Not necessarily. The writing is cliched as fuck, there is no supporting characters only caricatures, a mandatory song after a sequence of supposed emotional heavyweightedness, fights in which the hero beats people, easily, men twice his size and the most important thing, the hero must solve all the problems even if they are remotely not related to him. Varisu has all these trappings of the commercial film template, yet id say it still manages to engage you somewhat despite you knowing whatever happens. Primarily the reason for this is Vijay, who has this entertainer thing which really makes it fun to watch his film, despite some seriously over the top acting in some scenes. It is the main thing. Nothing else matters. This is a commercial film after all. It is film meant to celebrate Vijay, that’s all. So there is no focus on anyone else. But that’s par for the course. We are so used to these things taking place that none of this actually surprises you, both about how bad it is and how unchanged all these are. But in the end, this is a family film. It checks all the boxes, on it owns without stopping to ask if we feel any of those or not. Important: I did not feel any cringe in this film. Reasons may include my own low expectations from this film after all others thrashed it or maybe due to my own low humour level.