DON 2006 MOVIE REVIEW TV

It's the supporting players who stand out.

Still, unless you've seen Johnson, you wouldn't know there are possibilities there that Farrell doesn't find. Foxx fulfills his role's limited demands, while the earnest Farrell suffers from the lingering memory of Don Johnson's insouciance. The performances that jump out of 'Miami Vice' are not those of principals Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, who play Sonny and Rico, Miami undercover cops doing high-stakes anti-drug work. And Mann gets strong performances from his actors. His compositions are gorgeous, but not just gorgeous - they create a feeling and invite reflection. He has an instinct for when to linger and when to move on. Mann finds unconventional ways to shoot conventional scenes. But there's really no arguing with how he directed the picture. There are things not to like about 'Miami Vice.' That it's too long, that the story is confusing and not all that compelling, and Mann can take the blame for that - he wrote the screenplay. He returns to the scene of his first glory with 'Miami Vice,' the movie, investing in it much of what he's learned directing features over the past 15 years.

DON 2006 MOVIE REVIEW TV

The film's USP is its humour, but when even that isn't the best it could be, you know you're in trouble.Michael Mann is a film director of significance ('Last of the Mohicans,' 'The Insider,' 'Heat'), but he first became known to the public as the executive producer of the 'Miami Vice' TV series, which was a style-setting phenomenon in the mid-1980s. But the haphazard nature of the script, a sluggish screenply and an overdose of melodrama hampers what had the potential to be a total laugh riot. Nani is the film's heart and soul and brings Gang Leader to life with his charm, wit and classic humour. Add to it a couple of ill-placed songs and a poorly written screenplay ensures a potentially promising script falls short of expectations. The melodramatic twists - the reason behind the robbery in the first place and hidden secrets of the revengers - frustrates the viewers even further. The mystery behind the various twists and turns hardly makes an impact, and the whole cat-and-mouse game between Nani and Karthikeya (who seems to have just one expression throughout the movie), falls flat. One minute it's a comedy about a writer's detective skills, then there's a parallel love track between Nani and Priyanka (with a sincere performance), which never really takes off. The trouble is, Gang Leader tries to be too many things at once and doesn't really do justice to any one aspect. The five women - although impressive - don't really bring the house down, and it's left to Nani to infuse some much-needed humour into the script, with some help from Vennela Kishore and Priyadarshi, who are both hilarious. You wonder why a little girl is involved in a revenge story - especially given how the chief architect of the plan (Lakshmi) speaks blatantly about killing the person responsible.

Nani's character is endearing and you can't help but fall for his innocence and charm. They soon discover the identity of the killer - car racer Dev (Karthikeya), but taking revenge is easier said than done. So Kill Bill becomes Rasidhu Ni Champu and No Country for Old Men becomes Moddulaku Desham Ledu. They soon realise that he's a fraud - who basically plagiarises popular English films to write his novels. They take the help of writer Pencil Parthsarathy (Nani) who specialises in revenge novels. Fourteen months later, the kin of the other five robbers come together to seek revenge. Gang Leader begins with a bank robbery, where after carrying out the heist with surgical precision, one robber takes all the money for himself and kills everybody else. And sure enough, with their various quirks and mannerisms, Nani and his gang of revengers set out to keep you entertained. And yet, Vikram K Kumar brings together an unlikely set of people to headline Gang Leader. Review: A passionate yet fake writer and a motley bunch of women with a thirst for vengeance is the oddest gang you could root for. They set out to seek revenge, but in the process, uncover each other's hidden secrets They take the help of a writer, who's notorious for plagiarising popular Hollywood films. Story: Five women lose their loved ones and seek revenge against the person who killed them.

Don 2006 movie review