Wazir ***

Dir:  Bejoy Nambiar

Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao  Hyderi, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Manav Kaul

Working off a script by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, director Bejoy Nambiar manages to deliver an enjoyable enough thriller that boasts some good acting and a couple of neat plot twists. One of these plot twists is pretty much telegraphed early on (it could have been handled a bit better for the revelation to carry greater impact) and another which can be worked out near the end but which plays fair in its unfolding and also manages to address a number of quibbles that one may have had with the plot. That said the effort required to suspend disbelief in the last third of the movie rises exponentially and matters are resolved a little too conveniently.

Still, it is nice to come across a movie that requires you to pay some attention and one which is willing to tread a less familiar path. The acting also helps with Amitabh Bachchan only occasionally indulging himself as a wheelchair-bound chess grandmaster with perhaps a secret to hide and Farhan Akhtar proving to be a good foil as a grief and guilt stricken anti-terrorist taskforce officer who gets some life and chess lessons from the wily old man. The rest of the cast also provides good support with the charming Aditi Rao Hyderi playing Akhtar’s wife, Neil Nitin Mukesh bringing a shadowy, menacing presence and Manav Kaul essaying the role of a possibly murderous politician. John Abraham is also on hand in a cameo. The movie’s short running time of about 100 minutes keeps things compact.

Cut to chase: Watchable thriller which needed some tighter plotting.

 

Creed ***1/2

Dir:  Ryan Coogler

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Tony Bellew, Andre Ward

Ryan Coogler courageously takes on a franchise largely associated with one man - Sylvester Stallone, who created the character Rocky Balboa way back in 1976 - and manages to breathe new life into it. He does this by not only bringing in a new character, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), who is the orphaned son of Rocky’s nemesis-cum-best friend, Apollo Creed, but wisely also including Rocky’s ongoing story into the mix, honouring it and the history of the franchise.

In some ways Adonis’ tale follows some of the same beats as the first Rocky movie - a young man struggling with the baggage of his past, a young woman who comes into his life but who also has to cope with her own difficulties, a chance at redemption in the ring against the reigning, flamboyant world champion, grueling training sequences (including a riff off the famous chicken-catching sequence), a crusty old trainer to show him the ropes - but Coogler and Jordan (reteaming after the success of their first collaboration, Fruitvale Station) give it a fresh new coat of paint. And Stallone knocks it out of the park with his depiction of a man worn down by loss and having to rouse himself enough to take on his biggest opponent yet, this one out of the boxing ring (the action star is almost a lock to win this year’s Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). A couple of his monologues are almost guaranteed to raise a lump in your throat as is the moment when you finally hear Bill Conti’s original Rocky theme during the climactic fight sequence - Coogler’s wisdom in holding it back for that particular moment becoming evident at that point.

Creed proves to be a terrific shot in the arm for a franchise which seemed to have faded into irrelevance.

Cut to chase: Exciting and packs an emotional punch.

Kmumtaz1@hotmail.com; Twitter: @KhusroMumtaz