Theri - Usual masala, usual taste, watchable.

After "Therikidhu therikudhu mass", "Therikka vidalama" here comes Theri. Theri, director Atlee's second movie after his successful debut RajaRani and for Vijay an important movie after his ambitious movie Puli turned out to be disastrous.

This FL increased my curiosity.

The plot, which can be guessed easily after watching the trailer and there isn't a much of a surprise there either.

Vijay, after trying few films a cop he gets act right in this film. He looks really fit and the dress suits him perfectly this time. And, he really can pull off a character of 30 year old with ease. In some of the scenes his dialogue delivery was still irritating, but better than Jilla and Puli. Even with three different getup he didn't offer much difference, it was much better in Kaththi.

Amy’s character was totally not needed and her look was oh god! Samantha was cute, but some of her romance scenes were little boring. And, her dance was better than Selfie Pulla. Mahendran wasn't used much, but he was good in those few scenes he appeared. Mottai Rajendran’s scenes with Vijay provided some comic relief. He was good throughout the film. And, the baby Nainika was real cute and her scenes with Vijay in the first half were cheesy and must laud her dubbing as well.

The movie talks about few social issues like women safety, child trafficking, but I felt they were lost within this package. The biggest drawback of the movie is the screenplay which was slow and predictable. I felt there were too many sentimental scenes, few worked, few went overboard. And, the movie was like a mix of many old movies and the hangover of recent Yennai Arindhal was unavoidable.

The real hero of this movie is the DOP George Williams. Not just the lead actors, each and every character looks good. And , the movie was colourful from the start just like Raja Rani. The visuals really elevate the film. And, GV in his 50th movie has come up with few good songs and Vijay as usual made it  watchable with his dance moves. Few mass moments were equally complimented by his BGM and loved the theme mixed with Kerala style melam. And, thanks to Atlee for not including the Raangu song into the movie which was already long.

The film could have been little shorter. The villain could have been little deadlier. The romance portions could have made little more enjoyable. The investigation portion could have been made little more exciting. A cop story's usual element, cat and mouse chase, between the hero and villain was missing. But, even with all those flaws the movie didn't make me yawn or groan in my sit, somehow it was watchable.

Theri, doesn't offer anything new in this tried and tested genre. But, the rich visuals made this bearable. It wasn't as good as a Kaththi or Thuppaki, but at the same time not as bad as Jilla or Puli either. It may not live upto the curiosity and expectation it created with its firstlook and other promotional activities. So, Ajith goes back to Siva again after Vedhalam and with Theri Vijay returns to commercial route as well, god save our "Mass" heroes.

Theri -  2.5/5.0.