TRIVANDRUM ARIESPLEX SL AUDI 2 STATUS 4 PEOPLE (INCLUDING ME) Duel was one of the first Hollywood movies that I have watched. Directed by Stephen Speilberg, the orginal film was an adaptation of Richard Matheson’s shortstory of the same name. Matheson based this story on his own experience while he was nearly killed by a trucker on the way back to home. Truck film/Truck horror became more popular after duel. The television-film was an instant hit and developed strong cult following leaving a legacy on subsequent films. From the Fast and Furious series to 2016s Dulquer Salman starrer ‘Kali’ has shades of Duel.Overtake is an another ‘desi’ take on ‘Duel’. Although the former says that it is inspired from few Hollywood movies, the movie is a ‘xerox’ on the orginal film, leaving less scope for originality or creativity. Nandan Menon( Vijay Babu) and his wife Radhika (Parvathii Nair) leaves Bengaluru and decides to settle down at Kochi. They decides to pick up their child Nithya on their way. In a hurry to pick up their child, the couple takes a desolated highway – a shortcut which saves 80 kms, but were dragged to a cat and mouse game with a psychotic trucker. Rest of the movie is about the intentions behind the acts of truck driver and his identity. The first half takes time to establish characters. Truck is introduced only after 45 minutes into the first half, contrary to the original movie.Overtake works for most parts only because of bgm and stunning cinematography given the limited budget. VFX Works is also excellent. There were a lot of helicam shots, which was quite breathtaking indeed. Most importantly, overtake succeeded to a certain extent in establishing a terrain, which is important to this genre. Chasing scenes were well shot too. Given the genre, it is not an easy task to film such sequences for which the crew deserves to be praised. Vijay Babu excels as a businessman and a loving husband. Parvatii Nair apart from her sensous looks have nothing much to perform rather than clinging to the shoulders of Vijay. Her lipsync also felt totally ‘out of box’ in some portions. Rest of the cast are mostly forgettable, delivering only amateurish performances. Both direction and story is done by John. Since 90 percent of this movie is directly copied from Duel, the directorial skills cannot be analysed. Even the camera angles, shots, vehicles used were more or less same. But who rides a Petergilt truck in India? They should have used some other model, which is much more popular and realistic in India. I hate to call this movie as an inspiration due to abovesaid things. Overtake felt more like a Xerox or plagiarised version of Duel, rather than an inspiration. There was only one song in the movie. But that one song is totally misplaced and quite irritating to the entire mood of the movie. Editing is the worst part of the movie. Half way through the first half, I don’t get what exactly is happening on the screen. There was one friend character of the protagonist- a total flirt- whose jokes were quite irritating beyond a point. There were some building up sequences for the second half, which failed to connect with the audience. The beauty about duel is that it never reveal who the antagonist is. On the other hand, overtake takes a format of suspense thriller and reveals the antagonist in the climax. With a better direction and screenplay, overtake would have been a much better product. Still it may appeal to those who haven’t seen the original version. For others, who have seen ‘duel’, it is just a onetime watchable affair at its best. VERDICT: 2.5/5 “AVERAGE ONE TIME WATCHABLE ROAD THRILLER”
DVD watchil kooduthal nalla reviews varumayirikkum alle....joyride series ithu pole thanne alle psycho truck driver Sent from my HUAWEI P7-L10 using Forum Reelz mobile app
production design okke kollam..njan evideyo kandu ithnte budget 2cr aan..aa budget vech nokkumpol padam rich production values ullathanu. Truck ivar thanne modify cheyth irakkiyathanu. Pakshe oru orginality feel cheyyilla. Inspiration aanel polm kurachenklm creativity vende. Family sentiments okke enthinanu cherthathu ennu oru pidiyumilla. Ath ee genreil ulla padathinu oru liability aan. Athupole thanne climaxum athra ishtayilla enikk. Budgetinekkalum screenplay and direction okkeyanu kooduthal preshnam.
Joy ride same genre aan pakshe ithu athalla..ithu duel enna speilburgnte 1971 padathinte copy aan..almost 90 percentum athu thanne.
