Movie Thoughts: RRR (2022)

 

• Released: March 25, 2022
• Directed by: S.S. Rajamouli
• Running time: 3 h 7 min
• Rating 5/5

Synopsis

During colonial times in India, two men of opposing factions end up forming a close friendship. Now they have to figure out their differences while also sticking to their goals: fighting the British colonizers.

My Thoughts

You want a movie that's insane but in the best way possible? Here you go. I checked out this movie on a whim because a reviewer recommended it, and honestly I can safely say that this did not disappoint. 

The movie is just a blast. The characters are really enjoyable, the plot has so many twists and turns I never saw coming from a mile away, it is a musical, there's a giant dance battle in the middle of it, and it has some completely bonkers action scenes. And it all works. When I saw these elements were all present in the movie, I thought I was going to find it cringe or dislike it, but this movie is just three hours of genuine earnest fun. Sure, there's dark scenes, but there's also just so much to make up for it. 

My favorite aspect just had to be the action scenes, with how insanely epic and grand they could get. The main characters have very thick plot armor, yet they also just...didn't make me feel any less concern for them. Sure, they were probably going to make it out alive, but god the thrill just never really stopped. And the movie doesn't just have two or three action scenes, there's like seven or so of them, with them getting increasingly more wacky and over the top. And I love it. Whether it's dangling from a bridge above burning water to save a boy, crashing a party with a group of raging wild animals or throwing motorcycles at the colonizer's headquarters. Fantastic and so much fun.

I also really just found the characters super enjoyable. They're both flawed but I just totally loved the relationship between Ram and Bheem, whether you choose to read it as brotherly, close friends or even romantic. They're just super close and genuinely care for one another despite being at odds with the other multiple times throughout the film. In the end it does turn out that their goals align (getting rid of the British colonizers) but they have several heavy falling-outs in the movie, which you really do feel because their bond was just so well-developed and genuine.

Speaking of genuine, I also just love how earnest this movie is. There's none of that self-aware cynicism we see so often in Hollywood these days, it's just a three-hour epic about these dudes who genuinely care for one another and want to take back their independence from the people who stole that from them. It's just so earnest in its execution and I love it. Cheesy sometimes, sure, but it takes itself seriously and I'm loving it.

I do have two minor complaints, but they're nothing major: one, the pacing. While I absolutely think this movie should have a long running time with how much it's trying to cover, the full three hours-seven minutes is just...a bit too much. I did spot one or two scenes which easily could've been shortened and the pacing would've been a little better and the running time down a few minutes. It'd still be long, but I just don't think we needed the full running time to tell this story. Some scenes (e.g. the montage where Ram and Bheem bond) could've been cut down just a little and I feel nothing really would've been lost.

As for the second: the CGI is...not perfect. Not bad, don't get me wrong. I actually really like the CGI model designs they used for the animals. But they don't perfectly blend super well and the CGI became especially apparent in the large scale wide-shots of some of their locations (mostly large buildings or the bridge). Up close they look decent, but they do really start to appear like fake CGI models once zoomed out a little. The CGI animals also don't look perfect but they did look better than the locations sometimes. I feel like I should state that none of the CGI looked bad, just that it's not as good as we're used to in most movies nowadays. It wasn't distracting to me personally, but I could definitely tell when something was CGI and when something wasn't. 

But overall this is still a fantastic film. A bit out of the box with what I usually watch (animated movies, fantasy movies and/or movies about animals) but I'm so glad I gave it a chance. I can see the long running time putting someone off, but honestly I'd say give it a shot. If you aren't invested by the first action scene (the one with Ram arresting the guy in the crowd at the compound by going through a raging crowd), the rest of the movie probably also isn't for you. But if it is: have fun, I sure as hell did.