33. LEO (2023)

 

Language: Tamil

Genre: Action

With inspiration from "A History of Violence," Lokesh Kanakaraj's Leo is the newest film in the much acclaimed "LCU" ( Spoiler!, But You Know It, I know it); adheres to a formula that has been successfully tried and tested in numerous other gangster films: that of a protagonist, who conceals his past and departs peacefully from a small town, but when some extraordinary things happen in his life, he finds himself in a situation that threatens to shatter his shield. What I appreciate most about Leo is that it stays true to its genre—a sleek action thriller—instead of attempting to be a full-fledged commercial package, even when the narrative is driven by a template.

One of the film's greatest strengths is its first half, which introduces  us to the world in which the protagonist lives and offers us something to cheer about; thanks to some excellent writing and presentation. Above all, we witness a Vijay who, as Lokesh had promised, delivers a controlled performance without going overboard. The first half of the film is devoid of the typical Vijay movie gimmicks, which in and of itself is a breath of fresh air. The first half's action scenes are realistically and neatly packed, with good placement. The first half finishes with a bang, and Anirudh's background work is the icing on the cake. Believe me, I was left wanting more in the second half after experiencing such an intense high in the first.

However, the second half is where things really got out of hand. The primary conflict that arose during the protagonist's backstory exploration was incredibly flimsy and seemed out of place with the rest of the film. The things that I had previously mentioned as the positives took a different turn in this half. The action started to get a little too extravagant, and the typical Vijay gags began to appear. Even with a massive action set piece, the climax section lacked punch when it came in. 

The CGI work in Leo is in a hit and miss situation, where some scenes came out really well, while in some scenes the green screen effects were really visible. The camera department, under the direction of Manoj Paramahamsa, deserves praise for the creative shots that were tried out, and the art department did a respectable job by giving the scenes a western aesthetic.

In terms of acting, Trisha, who played the wife role, had a significant amount of stage time in addition to Vijay, who gave one of his best performances to date. GVM  and Mathews excelled in the limited space they had, and the movie cameos improved the entire event. Sanjay Dutt and Arjun, who played the main antagonists, looked incredibly stylish in their avatars, but by the end, their characters had become clichéd villains with little depth.

Leo is, all things considered, far better as a standalone movie than any of the Vijay films that have recently become blockbusters, but when compared to Lokesh's body of work, it is actually the weakest in both his total body of work and his LCU ventures.

My opinion: Average