Mark Antony review: A whacky combination of several genres

Director Adhik Ravichandran seems to have let his imagination run wild while coming up with the story of his latest offering — Mark Antony.

It takes us quite a while to come to terms with the cumbersome story since the developments happen in two different periods — 1975 and 1995. To add to the challenge of keeping track of developments, the two main actors — Vishal and SJ Suryah — play two characters each in the film.

Even as we struggle to process the developments that happened in one year, the story quickly jumps to another year, two decades ago, to present us with another set of developments.

The story keeps moving back and forth so many times that at one point, you lose track of which development happens when.

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Synopsis

The story begins with a scientist (Selvaraghavan) inventing a phone that enables its users to make calls to the past.  Unfortunately, he gets shot before he can showcase his invention to the world.

Time passes, and 20 years later, the focus of the plot shifts to Mark (Vishal), a mechanic by profession. He has a close friend named Madhan (SJ Suryah) who is the son of a top don — Jackie (SJ Suryah).

Though Madhan is Jackie’s son, the father and son hate each other so much that Madhan is on the lookout for an opportunity to kill his father and take over his gang.

Jackie, for his part, likes Mark more than his son because Mark is the son of his close friend and partner in crime Antony (Vishal). Jackie has been looking after Mark ever since Antony’s death, 20 years ago.

Mark, too, reciprocates Jackie’s love and treats him like his father. However, he has an innate hatred for his late biological dad Antony who, he believes, was a womaniser and an immoral man responsible for the death of his mother.

Life is smooth until one day when Mark happens to stumble upon the phone invented by the scientist. He realises that he can make calls to the past and alter the whole course of history and thereby, the present state of affairs.

When he finds out that his dad isn’t the womaniser he was made to believe he was and that his dad was not killed by an enemy but by his most trusted friend, Mark decides to change history by making calls to the past.

What happens then is what Mark Antony is all about.

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Many genres in one film

The story is a whacky combination of several genres. It starts as a time travel, sci-fi, fantasy film and then slowly changes colour to become a gangster drama and eventually changes shades again to turn into a revenge thriller.

The whole movie is so exacting that you feel exhausted by the time it ends.

Realism and logic take a back seat in this excruciatingly difficult-to-fathom plot that leaves you drained so much that you feel relieved when the film ends.

Although Mark Antony fails to impress as a whole, there are sparkling performances from some of its cast that bring a smile to your face.

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Performances

The most significant performance in the film belongs to actor SJ Suryah who clearly stands tall for his brilliant depiction of the characters of son Madhan and father Jackie.

Thanks to his outstanding acting, you can sit through this film. He adds value to several scenes with his expressive mannerisms and well-thought-out dialogue delivery.

Despite playing the role of a gangster and a villain, Suryah provides some much-needed comic relief. For instance, the sequence where he happens to meet the late actress Silk Smitha is just hilarious.

The other artiste who impresses you with his performance is Telugu actor Sunil. He plays a small but significant part. In fact, Sunil steals the thunder with a really impressive fight sequence.

The next big factor that works in favour of Mark Antony is its music by GV Prakash Kumar. A fantastic background score and some peppy numbers infuse life into an otherwise cumbersome story.

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Final take

Despite its high points, Mark Antony fails to impress.

(Views expressed here are personal.)