For High Octane Action Buffs Maybe

Film: Commando 3

Director: Aditya Datta

Cast: Vidyut Jammwal, Adah Sharma, Angira Dhar, Gulshan Devaiah

Duration: 134 Minutes

RBN Rating: 1.5/5

He grinds, gnaws, frets, and does about everything to stamp his authority as the only action star of Hindi cinema. And in this entire process, Vidyut seems to have blissfully forgotten that action doesn’t make actors. Stars maybe, but not actors. If Commando, the first film of the self-named franchise was a watchable flick, the third instalment comes as a huge disappointment.

Commando 3 has a hackneyed plot. Officer of the special forces unit Karan Singh Dogra (Vidyut) is called upon to prevent a countrywide terror attack planned by ‘bad’ Muslim Buraq Ansari (Gulshan) who is based out of London. Buraq brainwashes unsuspecting Hindus, converts them to Islam, and uses them as pawns in terrorism, not to mention of the countless Muslim youths he already has in his team. Karan, along with inspector Bhavna Reddy (Adah), land in London where they are helped in their mission by British intelligence officer Mallika Sood (Angira).

Everything about the film falters from the beginning. The backdrop is extremely unrealistic. The pent-up patriotism of a single man out to save his country has been done to death in countless Sunny Deol films. While in the earlier part of the Commando series Adah’s comic interludes came as a relief, here she doesn’t get much screen time. Gulshan tries to look menacing as the main antagonist, but is reduced to a petty villain, courtesy the weak screenplay.

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There’s is no mystery in the narrative. Every next frame is predictable. The only aim of the film is to showcase Vidyut’s gravity defying, no strings attached stunts. In fact, the clinically choreographed action sequences are the only thing that prevents Commando 3 from being a total washout. Both Angira and Adah, in their limited screen time, flex their muscles and indulge in breaking bones.

The film scores high on machismo, even bordering on misogyny at times. Sample this: Ahead of the final raid at Buraq’s den, Bhavna asks Mallika whether they should jointly share the bed with Karan for the rest of their lives, and in that case, which side she would prefer sleeping.

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The script is riddled with loopholes. On their flight to London, Adah boards the plane with sindoor on her forehead and bangles up to her elbow on both hands to look the part of a newly married wife of Karan. But both the sindoor and the bangles disappear the moment they arrive at London, never to appear again.

With nothing but the action sequences to speak about, Commando 3 becomes tedious by intermission. The film fails to impress in every department. It could be worth a watch for high octane action buffs who probably won’t mind an absolute lack of story.