RRR: !!!

Director: S.S. Rajamouli

Writers: Vijayendra Prasad, S.S. Rajamouli

Cast: N.T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Olivia Morris, Shriya Saran, Ray Stevenson, Alison Doody

Runtime: 187 mins.

2022

"American movies could never."

The refrain of our viewing party. Every time a scene of physical extremity was shot with clarity and true impact. Every time an intimate moment was played with blistering sincerity. Every time our heroes worked towards uncompromising anticolonial revolt. Every time the fun was maximized, and then maximaximized.

American movies could never. Is this true? You would have to peer back a few decades in blockbuster history to a specimen like Con Air, or Speed. Mile-a-minute insanity used to be acceptable for a big budget four quadrant movie. Desirable, even. Something poisonous has happened to the blockbuster since then. The movies are risk averse. The studios are afraid. Fun must be ironic, characters must be flawless, consequence must be forestalled, the audience's indulgent power fantasy must escape intact. Although it is not true that American blockbusters never could, perhaps it is now true that they could never.

RRR isn't a blockbuster... it's a ballbuster.

Look no further than the second scene, arriving on the tail of a heavy opener-- the blithe kidnapping of a young villager by English colonizers in 1920s India. How do you follow a scene that demands so much from the viewer? Why, with one of the great action scenes of the 2020s! (minor spoilers ahead)

A squadron of colonizers guard a prison behind a barbed wire fence. Surrounding the compound are thousands of angry rioters infuriated by the imprisonment of a political leader. As they swarm, an impotent commander screams for the arrest of a man who threw some debris over the fence. It is an absurd request, unthinkable. Silly, even. Until one single officer readies his baton and catapults himself into the mob.

That officer is an Indian man named Raja (Ram Charan), and the next six minutes of runtime follow him as he mercilessly beats his way towards his stunned target. The scene is superhuman without being supernatural. It's like watching a droplet fight a lake. Raja forces himself through the mass by sheer willpower. It is a scene of colossal scope, with hundreds of extras and dozens of stuntmen. American movies could never.

At one point, Raja is overwhelmed. He is brought to the ground and dogpiled by about twenty people in his immediate vicinity. I expected Raja to burst out of the pile in spectacular fashion, sending bodies flying every which way. Instead, the film cuts to inside the dogpile. The entire world becomes squashed with squirming human bodies, as Raja systematically punches, yanks, twists, and jerks his way out of the fleshy man cave walls. I have never seen anything shot quite like that. The beat by beat breakdown is so much more satisfying than the generic feat of strength.

Typically it would be a death knell to frontload your best material in a movie of such girth, but RRR is ceaselessly generous. Every single one of S.S. Rajamouli's maximally designed scenes could be the highlight of another film. The stuntwork and cinematography are so good that they justify occasionally dodgy CGI. It is so refreshing to see audacity rewarded. This is one of the few movies to ever bring me to tears from happiness alone.

That scene sees Raja and his newly made best friend Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) attend a soiree at a British compound. Unbeknownst to Raja, Bheem is a freedom fighter in disguise, sent to recover the abovementioned kidnapee. Unbeknownst to Bheem, Raja is a cop. This conflict, when brought to bear, harvests the bulbous fruit of grand melodrama. But for now, they are companions, and when a racist fancy boy attacks Bheem for his dancing ignorance, the two friends turn the party into a raucous stage for their own dance. Just as RRR revels in explosive violence, it has an electric affection for the kinetic beauty that bodies in rhythm can create.

Music features prominently in every moment of import. Composed by M.M. Keeravani, the soundtrack boils with the energy of ten thousand forgotten voices. Each and every gratifying hero moment is undergirded with guttural vocals and pulse-matching percussion. The blocking and the music are built to intertwine. It makes you Starkly aware of the palpably passive music in movies like Marvel's franchise, as characterized in this incisive Tony Zhou essay.

RRR is a movie committed to having a blast with every single aspect of itself, a rarity among stories of oppression and genocide. Crystal clear stakes, cogent drama, and masterful formal execution are the necessary ingredients for a room full of people shouting at the screen in elation. American movies could never... until they learn some damn lessons.

4.5 / 5  BLOBS