Ek Villain Returns Review: Thriller-Erotica Done Right With Zero Contribution From Its Actors

Riteish Deshmukh's character from 'Ek Villain' is reprised with the mention of 'Villain', a phrase so repetitively and synonymously used for a serial killer throughout the film that it gets annoying.

New Delhi: 'Ek Villain 2' has a good plot suitable for a psychological action-thriller, poor performances, good pace, bad music, some experimentation in visual composition in the way the film is shot but thoroughly formulaic.

'Ek Villain 2' stars Arjun Kapoor, Tara Sutaria, Disha Patani and John Abraham. The film does try to measure up to its first installment featuring Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh and manages only in parts. It creates a new template for itself.

'Ek Villain 2' Review

The film begins with a racy opening sequence of the sound of thunder in the backdrop, camera panning and moving up and down to a high-rise where we know a murder is about to take place.

In one of the apartments, a person seems to be recording something on the phone and the screen shifts to their phone so as to show what is being recorded on a phone but without pressing the record button. How do you explain this level of intelligence?

A murder takes place to establish the tone of the topsy-turvy screenplay to follow through the film.

Riteish Deshmukh's character from 'Ek Villain' is reprised though the mention of  'Villain', a phrase so repetitively and synonymously used for a serial killer throughout the film that it gets annoying.

The first 30 minutes of 'Ek Villain 2' then takes us through the Arjun Kapoor-Tara Sutaria romance trajectory when as audiences you are led into believing that Arjun Kapoor is the ultimate bad guy whose revenge-without-a-cause attribute defines his rebel without a cause life mission.

Arjun( Gautam) helps Tara( Aarvi) make her music career with a few-dirty and insensitive tricks that help bring down a successful performer and aid Aarvi in become the singing sensation because she deserves it etc.

In this process, Tara is projected as a villain who teams up with Arjun, another prime villain to amplify his sense of bad thus confusing the narrative.Throughout the Tara-Arjun sequence, one bad remix of a song is played on repeat to give a sense of the 'rise of Aarvi'. If the makers had brought in a good music composer to compose a few tracks for Aarvi perhaps, the music could have redeemed the poor performances in the pre-interval film.

The constant back and forth movement between narratives and timelines adds a good edgy factor to the screenplay. 

Like Arjun and Tara's romance, John and Disha's backstory of unrequited love is revealed. Even though 'Ek Villain 2' does emphasize on 'unrequited love' as the prime muder-motive and revenge, it does it so poorly by building on fear and erotica that it is almost good, because of its blatant honesty in doing so.

One more thing that as an audience you have to credit director Mohit Suri for is that of creating classic opening sequences for all leading characters. Their introduction as characters on-screen is actually commendable.

For instance; when John Abraham walks in the police station for giving a testimony, a backdrop of a conversation mentioning the behaviour of a serial killer is being recounted by ACP Ganeshan to his colleague. Likewise, in the beginning of the film, when Riteish Deshmukh's character is being recollected as a serial killer in a seminar hall, Arjun Kapoor's violence-anger and revenge-without-a-cause is being coalesced with the narrative.

The plot becomes even more twisted post-interval where Disha Patani looks like the arch 'Ek Villain' inciting John to murder young girls who do not respond to their stalker-lover's demands. 

Disha is given a part of a seductress-dainty woman who has a sense of pure evil inside her. Her performance for a complex character is not up to the mark even though the effort is there.

Likewise Tara is ok, John is poker face and Arjun is the best of the lot.

When the second-half of 'Ek Villain 2' starts becoming a psychological thriller, John Abraham does not know where to look or what to do. The actors of the film ride on the tide of a solid script to sail them through.

Constant anticipation is punctured by twists that bring out a dark shade in everyone's character in the film challenging motives and relationships per se.

Suddenly, Arjun Kapoor's good boy at heart transformation takes place, Tara Sutaria redeems her and Arjun's character while Disha's character is redeemed by making her a figment of imagination and John is rightfully incarcerated in a mental asylum.

A brutal comedy sequence happens in the closing sequence of the film where John lovingly walks towards a man-eater Tiger( who has been named Hero) who he thinks is Disha in his mind. It's completely weird and nonsensical.

For some reason, one feels that Vikas Sivarama's cinematography is spot on for a psychological action-thriller. The camera movements especially suited a horror-erotica are used for a thriller-erotica really well so as to cover the other not-so-great aspects of 'Ek Villain 2' mentioned earlier.

'Ek Villain 2' also has action sequences suitable to the genre. However, the last faceoff between good-evil i.e. Arjun-John is really bad. In the end, good triumphs over evil as evil sits in a mental asylum alive and now under the 'panah' of Riteish Deshmukh's character who is alive giving an excuse for another installment of 'Ek Villain' to follow.

In all, 'Ek Villain 2' is a thriller-erotica done right with the help of everything else but its actors.