Indian cinema is too large a topic for me to even scratch the surface of in a Reaction like this. I’m just starting to get into it. When I saw that RRR was turning into a legitimate hit on Netflix stateside, I was happy to join in to check it out. RRR is a lot of movie. It’s an unrelenting action movie with song, dance, and subterfuge. It’s going to be hard to find another movie this year that activates the part of my brain attracted to bright objects on a screen as much as this. RRR is the best movie I can imagine if you just want to see what a blockbuster from India looks like.
It’s a tough movie to assess. It’s profoundly stupid from a plot level. The humor is pretty broad. I don’t even have the words for how over the top the action is. I have some difficulty translating this through an American viewing lens though. The crazy American blockbusters give the appearance of feasibility. Superheroes have superpowers. John Wick has stunt choreography that’s on the screen. Tom Cruise really jumps out of planes. RRR is dressed up like a period piece with regular guys who inexplicable break physics. If Michael Bay attempted the same thing, it wouldn’t be as accepted. “But Alex,” you ask, “What about the Fast and Furious movies?” I’m glad you asked. First of all, while successful in the US, it’s the international box office that has made them hits. They tap into the RRR mentality more. The divide there is in the critical response. I checked Metacritic. This highest rated F&F movie so far is Furious 7, on the back of Paul Walker’s farewell. That topped out at 67. RRR on the other hand is 88 on there. I’m getting the feeling that people are pulling their punches more than normal with RRR out of excitement for an Indian movie finally breaking through. I suspect that if Baahubali: The Beginning had been received as well as RRR, then RRR would be considered more middling than it has been. I don’t know the point I’m trying to make. It’s just something I’m thinking through.
The fun of RRR is that it gleefully ignores restraint. It’s the kind of movie that only works because of how hard it commits to the tone. If it was 1% more restrained, it would be 20% worse. The closest American comparison I can come up with is Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story in that it’s technically about real people but it’s a wildly “lionized” account of their lives. As much as I enjoyed the very long movie, I did have to enjoy it on their rules.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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