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Dhoom 2 (2006) Director: Sanjay Gadhvi Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Bipasha Basu, Uday Chopra Time: 160 min. Hindi with English subtitles Rating: |
Bollywood has finally discovered that sequels are a good way to make money without having to exert too much effort. Hopefully, Bollywood will quickly realize that sequels generally don’t make good movies. In the case of Dhoom 2, the original far outshines the sequel.
One thing Bollywood does quite well is create meta-cinema, movies that are self- and cross-referential (for example, Bluffmaster was ultimately a self-referential discourse on filmmaking). In the case of Dhoom 2, director Gadhvi makes several references to Mission Impossible 2. However, within the first few minutes of D2, you know John Woo had nothing to do with this disaster.
The story is simple: Police Inspector Jai Dixit (Bachchan) pursues international thief Mr. A (Roshan) from India to Brazil while his annoying sidekick Ali (Chopra) behaves like a hormone-driven teenager. The interesting subplot to this trite narrative arc: Mr. A takes on gorgeous female apprentice Sunehiri (Rai) (in a nod to Entrapment).
The most irritating problem with D2 is that it’s another Bollywood genre mishmash. What opens as an action film evolves into a romance and devolves into a comedy for sexually repressed male Indians. At least the action re-emerges at the end of the film to help you forgot how torturous the previous two and a half hours were.
The action sequences themselves are horribly lame and badly staged. The “submersible” jet-ski at the beginning of the movie is simply inane, and some of the super-hero action moves during the fight and chase scenes verge on incredulous.
Then there is the abysmal continuity of the chase scenes. After making their final heist Mr. A and Sunehiri escape on a motorcycle, and within seconds, Dixit and Ali suddenly give chase in a helicopter. How the cops manage to find the absconding thieves instantly is a total mystery, like so many other plot loopholes in D2, which only a six-year-old wouldn’t question.
But maybe the loopholes really don’t need to be questioned because this movie is so predictable. If you can’t figure out the plot “twists” before they happen, you must be sleeping or paying too much attention to your popcorn or daydreaming about Bipasha Basu’s scantily clad body.
And you would think that with such a high-profile cast, Gadhvi would have made some attempt to use them more effectively, but he doesn’t bother. Abhishek just scowls through his trademark facial scruff. Uday Chopra grins brainlessly and has zero screen presence. Bipasha Basu does play a double role, but her acting talent is stretched less than the tight-fighting clothes and bikinis she crams herself into. Aish utters the most banal dialog with the straightest of faces. But Gadhvi has somehow succeeded in getting Aish to “act” with something that resembles emotion, which is a minor accomplishment.
The only highlight of this film is Hrithik Roshan, who carries the entire film. If anything, rent D2 on DVD just so you can check out the dance sequences. The music isn’t memorable, but Roshan is probably the top dancer in Bollywood, and it’s worth watching him move. You might also want to view some of his scenes because he is a surprisingly good actor, if only he would choose better films.
The first half of D2 verges on the painful thanks to the stupid dialog, the lame action sequences, and the unbearable Uday Chopra. At least the second half gets more entertaining as you approach the end (perhaps because you know the end is coming?). Be warned: if you choose to spend 160 minutes watching Dhoom 2, you’ll be doomed to having wasted 160 minutes of your life.
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