Captain review: This Hollywood-inspired Arya starrer is an alien flick gone wrong

Director Shakti Soundar Rajan loves all things sci-fi. Like some of his previous films, Captain also belongs to this genre.

Having been inspired by many Hollywood films, he decides to borrow heavily from the cult sci-fi action flick Predator in this Arya-starrer.

In the film, Arya plays Army Captain Vetri Selvan, an orphan who believes his team is his family.

He is asked to find out why people die inexplicably when they venture into Sector 42, a restricted forest area. Being the captain of a team comprising both men and women is no mean feat, but things take a serious turn when they are in the forest.

Karthi Devan (Harish Uthaman), a friend, comes shooting at him and his team. But finally, he ends up shooting himself. Meanwhile, scientist Keerthi (Simran) comes in with more expertise about what is haunting Sector 42.

How Vetri Selvan and Keerthi unravel this mystery forms the crux of the story.

How did @arya_offl end up producing and performing in #Captain? He reveals that first conversation here ??@ShaktiRajan @SimranbaggaOffc #AishwaryaLekshmi @adithyalive @immancomposer @madhankarky @tkishore555 @thinkmusicindia #TheShowPeople @RedGiantMovies_ @Udhaystalin pic.twitter.com/Jz62btkmPG

— Think Studios (@ThinkStudiosInd) September 8, 2022

Story lacks impact and localisation

The main issue with Captain is that there’s not much to it in terms of a coherent story. Similarly, there’s nothing engaging for us to really look forward to as the film proceeds.

Having seen many Hollywood films in this genre, making a Tamil film with a similar concept requires an impactful story with localisation. Unfortunately, this is missing in Captain.

The movie is run-of-the-mill and quite predictable, with nothing new for the audience to cheer about.

A mandatory romance, an oddball creature, showing team spirit, a protagonist with a sad backstory, and a female scientist who is shown in a misogynistic manner sleeping with someone to further her ambitions — this is the movie in a nutshell.

Underperformances and poor VFX

The writing is underwhelming and the actors underperform as well. Aishwarya Lekshmi, who is very talented, doesn’t have much to do.

Arya — who was superb in Sarpatta Parambarai — comes across as a soulless emotionless Army captain. Simran, who we know can act, sadly doesn’t have space to showcase her skills.

Now, let’s talk about visual effects. Needless to say, the VFX is the soul of any sci-fi flick. But, in Captain, the VFX is shoddy and the alien creature — which the entire movie revolves around— is an unintelligent buffoon of an organism, making this movie a tiring watch.

Let the roar begin ? Much awaited #Captain, in theatres from today ?!@ShaktiRajan @Arya_offl #AishwaryaLekshmi @ThinkStudiosInd @immancomposer @tkishore555 @thinkmusicindia @RedGiantMovies_ @Udhaystalin @ZEE5Tamil @ZeeTamil @popcornoffl22 pic.twitter.com/irNLdlwJFi

— Simran (@SimranbaggaOffc) September 8, 2022

Most films have logical flaws and loopholes, but some coherence and semblance of a story. This is not the case with the Arya-starrer.

The movie is edited by Pradeep E Raghav, who worked with the Shakti Soundar Rajan in Tik Tik Tik (2018). It has a decent BGM scored by D Imman.

It’s good to see a Tamil director try his hand at sci-fi films, and one must applaud the thought. But Shakti Soundar Rajan seems to have tried too hard to adapt Predator for our audience, and lost his way as he started writing the script.

And it’s unfortunate for the producers, including Arya himself.

Captain hardly ticks any boxes for the audience, except luckily for one — its runtime is less than two hours. So, people can leave the theatre soon.