GOAT Movie Review: In the 2007 film, Azhagiya Tamil Magan, a young Vijay is pitted against his look-alike. Seventeen years later, we get to see the same thing, but only now it is Thalapathy vs Ilaya Thalapathy. GOAT throws open a new version of Vijay for fans to celebrate. With GOAT, Vijay is not only a Venkat Prabhu hero, but also the Venkat Prabhu villain.
MS Gandhi (Vijay), a highly-skilled agent of the Special Anti-Terrorist Squad (SATS), is your typical ‘Family Man’, who hides his occupation from his wife (Sneha). He takes grocery list while making a move against villains. The couple, parents to a boy (Jeevan), are expecting their second child. Gandhi’s SATS team constitutes of Sunil Thiagarajan (Prashanth), Kalyan Sundaram (Prabhudeva), Ajay (Ajmal Ameer) and their boss Nazeer (Jayaram). On a work-cation trip to Thailand, an unpleasant incident changes his life and his approach to work. Cut to 17 years, Gandhi is now an immigration officer, who spends his days stamping passports, and taking care of his daughter who lives with his wife. The couple are separated. On a work trip to Russia, Gandhi accidentally meets his long-long son Jeevan, a young Vijay. And thus begins a cat-and-mouse game.
With action and emotional sequences, the first half of the film sets a stage for an interesting interval block, which supposedly packs a punch, but predictably factor boils down the catharsis. The second half has plenty of twists, but the climax scene – a fan-pleaser set during the CSK live match – is a bit of a drag. The story line follows a very familiar template, and the narrative, unfortunately, is very easy to foresee. The film’s overall length is a concern too. The action sequences too are just about average. The face-off scenes between young and old Vijay is engaging. With a conventional story, director Venkat Prabhu capitalises heavily on Vijay’s trademark charm. With de-aging technology, he gets to do it twice as well! Vijay is GOAT, no doubt, and he pulls off both the roles with ease. Playing a younger boy in the de-aging version, and adapting to the mannerisms gets full marks. His villainous side is very compelling. Vijays are the biggest asset of GOAT. With Vijaykanth as a front, Vijay also sends a ‘political message’ for his fans. Kokila Mohan as Rajiv Menon, a former SATS officer gone rogue, has done a great job as a bad boy, but between the two Vijays – Thalapathy and Ilaya Thalapathy – his character gets lost. Prashant, Prabhudeva, Sneha, Jayram, Meenakshi Chowdary add to Vijay’s charm. Yogi Babu and Premji bring the comic relief, with former scoring big in the Gandhi-Nehru bit. De-aging technology has been crafted extremely well, contrary to the comments that we saw after the release of the trailer.
A few throwback gestures and dialogues from a few Vijay and Venkat Prabhu’s films, including from Mankatha, are blended naturally without going overboard. From Ghilli’s Marudhamalai to Beast’s Habibi, Venkat Prabhu has included all kinds of tributes to his fans. Trisha’s special cameo and the duo doing the signature ‘Appadi Podu’ step gets all the whistles. The CSK magic, Ranjithame-style kiss, Guna’s Kanmani Anbodu, Padayappa’s signature music, and the Thala-Thalapathy debate bit in the end, VP packs all kinds of nostalgic tricks to keep the audience hooked to the average, predictable story line.
GOAT deserved better music; Yuvan Shankar Raja scores well in action and elevation sequences, but songs, including the special number with Trisha, are a big let down. Cinematography, too, is just about average as VFX has taken over in most of the outdoor locations.
Endless fan moments, all mass and no solid substance makes GOAT an average watch for the film lovers, and a celebrated watch for his hard-core fans. In his 32-year-odd career and 68 films, GOAT is good, but definitely not Greatest Of All Times!
