Animal Movie Review: Ranbir Kapoor Hots Up In Brutish, Nasty Tale Featuring Lot Of Toxic Men

`Animal` is a ruthless portrait of a series of murders in a conspiracy to assassinate protagonist`s father.

Film: Animal  

Director: Sandeep Reddy Vanga 

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor, Triptii Dimri, Shakti Kapoor 

Rating: 2.5/5 

‘Animal’ made me put my phone down all through the movie. A second-worth of a distraction away from the screen and it felt like an irreparable loss. Afterall, it’s Ranbir Kapoor. Love him or hate him – you just can’t ignore him.  

Revenge isn’t just personal   

‘Animal’ creates commanding cinema by beginning with a son’s devotion for father which turns into a frightening scenario of endless blood bath. Right from a young age, Ranvijay Singh or Vijay (Ranbir Kapoor) endlessly craves his richie-rich father Balbir Singh’s attention. However, Balbir is heartlessly angry and dismissive, and time and again, young Vijay’s disappointment just breaks your soul. ‘Animal’ is a testament of bad parenting that shows how an absent parent could change our lives for the worse. Also, how badly Vijay needed mental health care.  

Now, Vijay is already broken, insane and extremely crime oriented. Thus begins a terrifying war of terror in the name of protecting his father. ‘Animal’ is so gripping and brutish that it fully explores guns, ammunition, blood and more blood. Basically, what Vicky Kaushal’s ‘Sam Bahadur’ should have done.  

Ranbir Kapoor – Absolutely Berserk but why so hot?  

Misogynist, insensitive, entitled – Vijay is everything that no one should dare to be. Performance-wise, Ranbir Kapoor strips out a lot of the underpinnings of his character ‘Vijay’. And this is not the first time, he just played another classic Ranbir character on everyone. He comes clean shaved with rough long hair, and ‘Sanju’ nostalgia hits. When he’s wearing nothing but a towel, the realisation hits that ‘Saawariya’ boy is all grown up now. All thanks to Ranbir, Vijay’s ‘man in charge’ demeanour is here to stay. 

Can Love Get More Toxic?  

Timid and super-submissive Geethanjali (Rashmika Mandanna) plays the love interest of Vijay. The couple meets. He demands marriage. She stays silent. He is thrown out of the house. She falls for his alpha-ness and elopes.  

For a boorish Vijay, love wasn’t work but a requirement fueled with entitlement. Laced with hot intimate scenes, ‘Animal’ features self-sacrificing Geetanjali who finds herself trapped in grim, manic married life. 

Still Missed You, Lord Bobby  

Vijay’s equally blood-thirsty enemy enters, and the character is played by Bobby Deol. Sensuous-looking Bobby Deol did return and played the field. Let’s just say it didn’t end up well as we couldn’t see him much. Looks like the wait isn’t over for the ‘Soldier’ to make another comeback. 

What Rohit Shetty Didn’t Do 

To Shetty’s horror, Sandeep Reddy Vanga blasted a brand-new Rolls Royce in ‘Animal’!  

Sandeep has developed an impressive cinematic language. The storyteller has harnessed elements like aerial vistas, loud lighting, swift cuts to his craft that ended up finding a story inside of the story. However, Sandeep messed up the timeline with too many characters. More so, many murders and free flow of blood did make the movie uncomfortable. As if this wasn’t enough, there were cringe, brainless dialogues throughout that oozed extreme confidence. On hearing Vijay deliver a dialogue - ‘Happiness is a decision’, someone from the audience prompted out loud, “Is Bollywood becoming Telugu Cinema?” 

What Makes ‘Animal’ So Intense?  

Sound. Period.  

Mixing and editing made ‘Animal’ a nerve-wracking tale. The film’s tense but its music makes it very very stunning. 'Animal’ hardly ever slows down from start to finish and ‘X factor’ was its sound illusion. With ‘Arjan Vailly’ powerful sequence in place, ‘Animal’ powerfully mixes a bit of Punjabi folk, string instrument, whistles and what not! For the lovers out there, ‘Hua Main’ brings back the butterflies too. In short, Animal’s soundtrack stands on its own and is a concrete defining part of the film. 

'Animal' – Yay Or Nay?  

‘Animal’ isn’t totally worthless. Most of its action sequences are entertaining, and it does get gory. Its Kashmir scenes are majestic. And Ranbir gives everything he has to his performance. There’s a good show buried in 'Animal’. What’s more? In the hope of a sequel, Sandeep Reddy Vanga leaves us hanging by introducing another cruel character while credits were rolling. More blood, what else?