I have to admit I've never seen a Bollywood film. For my first taste, I just watched the non-stop action thriller KILL.
While no one broke into song and dance at any point, I was a bit taken aback by the almost non-stop music and the daytime soap opera level romantic scenes. I am thinking they were actually sending up Bollywood stereotypes in the opening act.
But who cares. What surrounds the brief romantic interludes is one of the most sustained, violent and exciting action films of the year.
And that romance will be important later.
The plot is simple.
Commandos Amrit (Lakshya) and his best friend are just off a long assignment when Amrit finds out his true love Tulika has been engaged to another man in an arranged marriage. She's on a New Dehli bound passenger train with her powerful father and family. Amrit heads out to board the train and whisk her away.
Meanwhile, a crime family and their merry band of violent thugs have boarded the same train to steal everything they can from the passengers and then get off at the next station.
The bandits are violent and their young leader Fani (Raghav Juyal) is one of the most brutal and casually ruthless villains of all time.
Amrit barely has time to see Tulika on the train before the bandits move into action and the two are separated.
What follows is an almost relentless John Wick/Tarantino style blast of hand-to-hand combat as Amrit takes on the entire gang. Like the John Wick films, Amrit finds a million ways to kill at close range.
Lakshya is excellent as our hero. He OWNS the screen and rarely leaves it. He's got the right attitude and physical presence for the lead.
After about 30 minutes of assaults against a never ending stream of opponents, it begins to sink in that Amrit can indeed be wounded. I'm not sure how you lose this much blood and keep fighting, but I can only assume its sheer adrenaline.
There's a moment 45 minutes into the film that changes everything.
The title KILL fills the screen as music blares and the train roars.
Up to that point, the action was bloody, violent and thrilling.
But everything changes. It's as if the filmmakers found the violence meter had been set to 5 and they spin it to 10.
It's a powerful move and the consequences on both sides of the battle are elevated.
As Amrit and Fani move outside the train, hanging onto ropes, running on top of the train to other cars, they become immovable forces of good v evil. The kills get bloodier, the screams louder and the tension even tighter.
Like "The Raid" on a moving train, KILL is a mad blend of QT at his best, the 70's martial arts films and John Wick on vacation in India.
Just before the film's release, the producers of the Wick films, 87Eleven Entertainment purchased the rights to remake KILL in America.
I can't imagine they'll be able to equal the breathless pace and bloody thrills of this original. KILL gets a B.
Here's the R Rated trailer for a taste.
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