Directed by : Venkat Prabhu
Produced by: Kalpathi S. Aghoram,Kalpathi S. Ganesh,Kalpathi S. Suresh
Starring:Vijay,Prashanth,Prabhu Deva,Ajmal Ameer,Mohan
Cinematography:Siddhartha Nuni
Edited by:Venkat Raajen
Music by:Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production company:AGS Entertainment
Release date:5 September 2024
Running time: 183minutes
Language:Tamil
The Greatest of All Time is an Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film directed by Venkat Prabhu and produced by AGS Entertainment. The film stars Vijay in dual roles, alongside Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Ajmal Ameer, Mohan, Jayaram, Sneha, Laila, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Vaibhav, Yogi Babu, Premgi Amaren and Yugendran. It is the twenty-fifth production of the studio and the penultimate film of Vijay before his political entry.
Less buzz than past Thalapathy Vijay films due to mixed responses to music and de-ageing technology, but still on track for Kollywood’s second largest opening after Leo and Vijay hold the film with his stardom. The minimum for Day 1 gross will be around 100 crore. If it had a good response, the sky is the limit for your film. In terms of business, producers should set aside profits before releasing even a high-budget picture. The crew is completely confident in the product, and it shows in interviews. The Greatest Of All Time will be shown on practically all screens in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Without a release, national chains in North India like INOX and PVR maintained a global screen count of about 6,000.
The film follows Gandhi, former leader of a special anti-terrorist squad, who reconciles with his squad members to address the problems which were stemmed from their previous actions.
Starting with a surprise entry, the film is packed with the right ingredients in the first half. Family emotions, comedy, and action mixed properly.Venkat Prabhu entertains with some surprises, references, and fan moments. The interval plot twist was one of the biggest high points of the movie. the only negative in the first half was Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music and placement of songs.
Not only does the movie lose its momentum from the second half, it also feels the lack of a good back ground score. Perhaps a good BGM could have elevated many of the scenes. The ‘Spark song’ placement also only served to increase the length of the film. The songs and the heroine were all unwanted material in the second half. ‘Matta song’ gives the theatre vibe with some surprises, and it’s a plus from the music department.
The film dragged in many places with lengthy action blocks and sticks to the template of all commercial films till date. The action scenes are excellent, but the length of some of the fights and the over-the-top set pieces hold it back from taking the action department to the next level. Still, on the other hand, Vijay holds up the film with his career-best performance. Approaching the climax portions, the last 45 minutes were rich in twists, but many were predictable. The VFX quality could have been improved in the climax sequence of the film, which is technically high. The de-ageing look and surprise AI look are well done, which makes the technical side strong.
Despite the huge star cast, Vijay and Venkat Prabhu hold the movie with some surprises and packaging. but still the film struggles with plot loop wholes, predictability, and template structure. Also, there is not any much-needed justification for the characters acts and twists. The 3-hour length is also the main problem; it would have been cut at least 30 minutes, which makes the movie more crisp.
Bottomline
A template commercial entertainer struggled with letdown musical department, predictability, and 3 hour running time.Thalapathy Vijay in top form & some surprises are there.
