This review contains spoilers.
A few days ago, I watched Fighter in 4DX at the movie theaters. This was my first time watching a movie in 4DX, and to be completely honest, I didn’t even know what 4DX was until the Dune 2 trailer came on and my seat started tossing me around.
I came into this movie with low expectations. I haven’t been a huge Bollywood fan as of late. I used to enjoy Bollywood movies of 10-20 years ago: cliche romances, over the top action, and meaningful stories that really stuck. These days I feel they’ve leaned into everything that was wrong and amplified it. Gaudy comedy, terrible direction, and no interest in fleshing out actual plotlines.
This movie also seemed like a Top Gun ripoff. The set, costumes, music, and even the story are very, very inspired from Top Gun Maverick. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie from start to finish. The main cast was very well-cast.
Tangent: Hrithik Roshan is Messi’ing Tiger Shroff’s Neymar. This was the perfect movie for Tiger, if he knew how to act. But I’m glad they went with Hrithik.
The movie starts in a cliche yet exciting manner, and the entertainment keeps coming. The 4DX really suits this movie, since it has many high-octane fighter jet scenes. The storyline is predictible yet satisfying, and the main cast (Patty, Taj, Bash, Minni), all play their roles convincingly. Given the budget, the action sequences are extremely well done.
I also liked how they covered certain topics in the movie. Hrithik’s pain when his mistakes cause Bash and Taj to be taken as POW’s was very well executed. They were also able to deliver the sadness of Bash’s death extremely well. Lastly, the ending action sequence is cheesy yet riveting, and attempts to hits marks of patriotism that didn’t fall completely flat.
However, this movie is not without its flaws. For one, the some of the dialogues, and all of the monologues are AWFUL! Hrithik and Deepika’s characters are unable to reveal any details of their lives without turning into Socrates. Every time they speak is some sentimental monologue that never hits the mark. There is also a scene where Patty (Hrithik) meets Minni’s (Deepika’s) parents, who don’t approve of her, and he delivers a heroic speech about why they should love her that goes on for about 5 times as long as it should have, and feels very awkward as I didn’t feel he was in any position to lecture her parents who he had never met.
Another gripe is about the music. I actually thought the songs were very strong, with “Ishq Jaisa Kuch” and “Mitti” being standouts. However, most of the songs take a backseat in the movie yet “Heer Aasmani” takes center stage. I liked some of the instrumentation but hated the vocals! Also, maybe it was a problem with my theater, but the mix on the songs in the movie sounded really bad. They all sounded like they were passed through a high-pass EQ, removing all bass and amplifying already annoying vocals.
My last complaint about the movie is that some of the scenes were really low resolution. I think this is because some of the less important scenes were not a priority when they converted the movie to 3D, but the quality was like 480p for a lot of the scenes. The scenes that they wanted to look good did look good, though.
Verdict: Watch this movie for its action sequences and strong cast. Take or leave the patriotic sentiment it tries to fill you with. Enjoy the bad dialogue and glaring plotholes as they will only add to your enjoyment.