'Vidaamuyarchi' review: Ajith's remake of American crime thriller fails to pass muster

While director Magizh Thirumeni has mostly retained the core plot of Breakdown, he has added backstories for the antagonists and tried to incorporate their points of view into the crime thriller. The protagonists too get their own backstories, which adds a new kind of energy to the film.

The plot

Arjun (Ajith Kumar) and Kayal (Trisha Krishnan) are an ideal couple living in Azerbaijan. They have a lot of friends and are living a happy life. But things slowly start to unravel and fall apart.

Kayal files for a divorce as Arjun is no longer giving her the attention she deserves. Since she wants to move to her parent's place, Arjun insists on a road trip to drop her off at Tbilisi. He convinces her that their twelve-year-old relationship deserves at least one final road trip. But, little do they know that the trip will end up turning into their biggest nightmare.

On the road trip, they meet a notorious gang of youngsters who taunt both Arjun and Kayal. They also meet Rakshith (Arjun) and Deepika (Regina Cassandra), who were very helpful in the beginning. It is only later Arjun realises that they have befriended them to kidnap Kayal for ransom.

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Can Arjun find Kayal? Can he take down the deadly organised criminal gang in an unknown territory?

No emotional connect

In the first half, you don't see Ajith in any mass heroic elevation sequence or delivering some whistle-worthy punchy dialogues at all. One has to appreciate the actor for choosing a role that doesn't have any masala flavour.

But having said that, the film suffers from serious pace issues, incoherent writing, and there is no emotional connect with the characters at all.

Yes, Kayal and Arjun are going to separate but the writing is not that impactful and the audience feels nothing for them. Mostly, Ajith and Trisha's performance is what keeps things going and not the writing. Also, Arjun and Regina's backstories are effective and the idea is exciting but again, somehow, it all falls flat.

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Underplaying

While Ajith's idea to underplay as an actor in the first half is laudable, the biggest question is whether the Breakdown remake deserves this extra risk. Given the fact that the original version itself is just a passable thriller.

The first half may not have many action scenes for Ajith but in the second half, the actor gets an array of action scenes which come on one after the other. The problem here is that though the action scenes are elegantly choreographed, it leaves the viewer cold since it seems mechanical.

Ajith has delivered a subtle performance while Trisha is just average. Arjun looks disinterested and tired in the film. Regina has given her best to look and perform differently while Arav doesn't have much of a scope to perform.

Technically good

Technically, Om Prakash's camera has beautifully captured the unexplored Azerbaijan terrain. Anirudh has tried his best to elevate the film with his pulsating background score, while the editor N Srikanth could have easily chopped some the unwanted scenes.

Overall, Vidaamuyarchi is an average crime action thriller. The director Magizh has tried to give a new flavour to Breakdown but his adaptation is not emotionally impactful like the original.