Sanket’s Review: “RACE 2” is thoroughly enjoyable despite its filmy clichés.

race2Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandes, Ameesha Patel.

Director: Abbas-Mastan

Length : 2.25 hours approximately

Spoon-Feeding in thrillers is something that plays major spoilsport, but keeping things unanswered doesn’t harm any less. In this week’s sequel to that excellent 2008 thriller, RACE 2, Abbas-Mustan serves you entertainment but with hurdles. RACE (2008) was interesting because it had many twists and turns thrown at regular interval making the pace brisk and keeping the audience guessing! RACE 2 also offers few twists, although few predictable, but the pattern of twists is mostly borrowed from the first installment. Anyhow, nitpickings aside, RACE 2 still has entertainment galore because of its grandeur, its bizarre and weird elements.

The film takes too much of time to construct its premise and too much of time is submitted to side characters. The track involving the fruit-lover Anil Kapoor and his ditsy companion played by Ameesha Patel this time, only plays comic part and not to the fullest unfortunately. The double meaning jokes works hilariously but falls flat occasionally. Still there are few wonderful moments to cherish about. That excellent chase sequence in first half, from building to building or in middle of busy roads is engaging and keeps you hooked. Also that thrilling portion, just before intermission, where too much of story is prevailed and also a smart connection to a character of Bipasha Basu. Unlike many sequels, RACE 2 doesn’t throw away all the previous characters. Although two songs in this first half placed almost back to back takes away the pace irrespective of their wonderful choreography!

The second half gets very engaging with every episode smartly directed. Although, the writing is too clunked towards the last 20 minutes, but still the second half solves too many blemishes. That heist scene, though bit out of logic, is one of the best part about the film. That boxing scene however which is attached with the heist portion doesn’t help much. That boxing scene plays on for too long for its own good and it doesn’t really pull the story ahead. The climax of the film in the aero plane is good, but the twists and turns are not exactly smart! But at the end, RACE 2 is thoroughly enjoyable, thanks to its gripping second half, despite its filmy clichés.

Pritam’s music is soulful and stays with you even after the show. All four songs are well choreographed too but they are placed in the wrong time. The cinematography will leave you asking more of locations. Its an outstanding work! The writing of the film however doesn’t have that wit and cleverness which was a major positive of the 2008’s runaway hit. Abbas-Mastan knows their job well and its displayed in many scenes. The heist scene specifically will give you all the reasons.

Saif Ali Khan again infuses proper blend of elegance, expressions and body language. He never misses a single breathe and turns his character to a dashing devil with incredible ease. Deepika Padukone shines in her role and her notorious expressions tagged with glamorous look makes up for a good portrayal! John Abraham has it in him although at times he doesn’t deliver. Anil Kapoor sadly doesn’t have as much role as much he had in previous film, still he gives you few good comic bits despite a weak helping hand from Ameesha Patel who doesn’t leave up-to what Sameera Reddy did in RACE. Jacqueline Fernandes plays her part decently, but a better performer could have been better for the film.

In the end, RACE 2 doesn’t match the sheer brilliance of its first part, but still manages to entertain you for its 2.25 hours of run-time. The dashing actors, beautiful cinematography, foot-taping music tracks, good performances from its major cast and several engaging moments with couple of unpredictable twists is enough for you to buy a ticket. Watch it as just another film, and you might even love this one!

Rating – 3/5 (Good)

Link – https://bollywoodism-bollywoodism.blogspot.in/2013/01/sankets-review-race-2-is-thoroughly.html

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2 Comments
  1. Baba Ji 12 years ago

    Just back from race 2. quite similar to race. john is in akshaye role and jacqueline has katrina role. deepika has bipasha role. film is entertaining and reasonably decent in script given bw stds.some action scenes are good like the parkour chase of saif and a white guy.Johns cage fight is a huge disappointment so is the one-on-one between saif-john.actresses are used well and there is the typical abbas mustan big twist just before interval which smartasses like sputnik will be able to guess easily 😉
    Worth a watch 2.5-3/5

  2. Serenzy 12 years ago

    Race-2 is Not a Crapfest for Sure.

    But, it’s So Predictable, Weak and Dumbed Down in Places and also Sometimes Good at Places that the Entire Dish Tastes just about ‘Okay’.

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