Retro Movie Review : The curse of the second half doesn't spare 'The One'

Retro Movie Synopsis: A man groomed by a gangster since childhood decides to leave his life of violence for the sake of his pacifist girlfriend. But his violent past and destiny will not let him to walk away so easily.

Retro Movie Review: Right in the prologue of Retro, Karthik Subbaraj establishes the mythology that will drive his film's plot. A spiritual speaker talks about Lord Krishna, and we see a child - with a scar that could be taken for a peacock feather - being taken in by a gangster's kind-hearted wife. Guess who puts down to win the approval of his adopted dad - his uncle! And the name of his lover - Rukmini! Later, we see this character, now believed to be 'The One' by an oppressed group of people on an island, battling in an arena and taking down their tormentor!

The conflict that the filmmaker brings in is also interesting. Rukmini (Pooja Hegde, effective) wants this character, Paarivel Kannan (a smashingly good Suriya, who gets to play both demon and God) to give up his violent ways and do good to people like Buddha! But what if Paari is actually a Krishna, whose destiny is to save people by killing their oppressor? And it is this conflict that mainly keeps us invested in the film, which keeps flitting from one conflict to another.

There's a McGuffin in the form of a sought-after 'gold fish', which is what creates friction between Paari and his 'dad' Thilagan (Joju George), and leads to conflict between the lovers. Later, we get another, involving Paari's conflict with King (Vidhu), who runs a violent cult. And one about the people who are being oppressed by King, who believe their saviour would come one day and set them free. While Karthik Subbaraj does tie them to the core conflict, not everything comes together satisfactorily. There are moments in the second half when some of the ambitious writing choices - like the climax, which echoes that of the filmmaker's Jigarthanda Double X in some aspects - lead to unintended reactions. There are also times when the violence feels prolonged. Even Rukmini's pacifism needed a stronger reason to make us understand why she keeps breaking up with Paari when he resorts to violence, especially when it is to save her or someone else.

But Karthik Subbaraj manages to make us overlook all these reservations with sheer filmmaking flair. A 15-minute single-shot sequence that involves song and dance, heated conversation and tense action just makes one want to stand up and applaud. Similarly, an action scene in a bioluminescent sea makes for striking visuals (Shreyaas Krishna is the cinematographer). Then there's Suriya, whose very presence lights up the frames. The actor's performance, too, feels more organic when compared to some of his recent works where there was a certain artifice creeping into the acting. Then, there's Santhosh Narayanan, who delivers foot-tapping numbers and a rousing background score that elevates even the weaker moments. If only had the writing been more focused in the latter portions, Retro could have escaped the curse of the second half, and turned into something truly memorable.