2.0

2.0

It is 2018 AD, and Rajinikanth an Indian film Super Star, who must be addressed as “Super Star” all the time in his movies adverts according to his contract, is now a sixty-seven year old man. In this year alone he has starred in two of the most electrifying movies of 2018. Starting with “Kaala,” it is quite a sober and somber gangster drama/musical that has slow motion fight sequences alongside rousing agit prop chants (‘Educate! Agitate!’) and dancing on the streets. Then there is “2.0,” Rajinkanth’s continuation of his crazy 2010 robot superhero blockbuster inspired by Isaac Asimov’s “Endhiran.” However, its sequel “2.0” directed by Shankar Shanmugham has got better.

Out of all films released in 2018, there were only two others done in 3-D; James Cameron-produced/ Robert Rodriquez-helmed ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ and Russian fantasy sequel ‘Viy 2’. It also deals with climate change issues, warns against using cell phones (yes, for abortions?), and shows political corruption.

He plays Dr. Vaseegaran who is a robotics scientist that brings back to life his Astro Boy like creation named Chitti which happens to be another character played by Rajinikanth in order to protect humanity from a tsunami of mobile phones morphing into kaiju sized bird of prey due to the angry ghost of an environmentalist who hung himself on a cell tower, Pakshi Rajan played by Akshay Kumar who will always do anything given to him ever since he acted as Rani Mukerji’s love interest in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai at school.

Also, some are actually cell-phone sized robots like Chitti who leads them into battle. This could be a great new cartoon show for kids, except it’s way too violent; Chitti shoots people’s heads off or stabs them with his retractable claws. There goes Sylvester Stallone: the next elder statesman of Not Aging Gracefully But Still Somehow Making it Work is none other than Rajinikanth (yet again).

While most of this gonzo set-up doesn’t make sense right away, that’s alright too: just like every single scene in “2.0,” the film is all about energy. However, good energy is what “2.0” means as well. Indeed, some mysterious force seems to have taken over the entire cell phone network within India snatching these out of their owners’ hands and linking up with each other to form an animated little tweeting buzzing digital cloud thingy which from time to time looks exactly like a physical cloud but only tweets instead of rains on you.

However, Vaseegaran does not solve this problem alone for a while because in “2.0,” the movie is really about Cell Phone Cloud, which we will later find out was Rajan’s instrument of revenge FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE. Later on then Vaseegaran explains all this through a slide show in which he refuses to depict any pictures or diagrams of Rajan himself so as prevent any further use of his very powerful and highly evil aura by others targeting another country’s mobile phone system causing him to lose control over Indian cell phones as well.

But even though Kumar acts insane and eats almost every scene sometimes wearing giant bird costumes it is probably still safe to say that nothing tops out Rajinikanth fever.

But “2.0” is heavily dominated by Rajinikanth, trust me. The most important name in the cast might even take a lightly supporting role as Kumar and Amy Jackson’s co-star if need be (Amy Jackson portrays Nilla, the sexy lady robot who cracks jokes and sometimes refrains from stopping Chitti when he tries to save the day).

However, I believe there’s a lot of Rajinikanth in “2.0” for instance when Vaseegaran punctuates boastful thoughts with the word “DOT” or period, and any scene featuring Kumar’s character lamenting that radio waves generated from cell phones are killing birds because cell phone users are downright careless (“Every individual who owns a cell phone is a murderer”).

Also, there is really too much Rajinikanth in “2.0”: this includes thousands of Chitti clones that swarm over the Rajan-controlled mobile-phone flock which looks quite fearsome dressed handsomely on screen. Some absurdly sung disses by Eminem could rival those done by army of mini Rajnikanth robots (Chitti sings “I am six feet tall/you are a radish, that is all”).

But wait until hundreds of man sized Rajnikanth androids have built an enormous football soccer ball out of their ranks before they shoot it towards The Big Cell Phone Bird using auto rifles (and into huge stadiums full of people with them zipping past the heads barely missing innocent spectators). This stunt has been copied from an earlier scene in Robot but this does not make it less adorable or crazy among other ways that Rajnikanth exploits his ego consciously. At some point, Rajinikath pats himself on the back literally while thanking Vaseegaran for creating Chitti. That takes chutzpah!

I confess: I’m infected with Rajinikanth fever in no small part due to last night’s rambunctious audience of Indian film fans that packed the 9:30 PM opening night showing of “Robot 2.0”. After all, whenever Rajinikanth managed to pull off anything funny, slightly arrogant or completely insane like being attacked by a giant bird monster as Chitti in a silver lamy suit skating on rollerblades with old fashioned goggle glasses on his face.

A few film devotees were, um, dubious; hence they talked back at the screen (though often in ways that would have been appropriate for a screening on 42nd Street). But even the most skeptical moviegoers sang along and shouted happily at almost every action beat. Me too: against all reason against all common sense “2.0″ works, and in a big, big way.

Watch 2.0 For Free On Gomovies.