Dhurandhar: The Revenge Review: A more emotionally potent and morally rich sequel
As a long-time fan of Dhurandhar, I couldn't wait for this sequel! Just kidding, the first came out a couple of months ago, and I watched the first yesterday. Regardless, I was still hyped to burn four more hours of my life on this two-part action epic saga. While there were a couple of things that weren't my absolute favorite in the first film, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Check out my review here if you'd rather hear my thoughts about the first part first. But, if not, let's stop dilly-dallying and get into this Reel Ranker review! Thanks for joining me today!
The first matter of business to discuss: is this a worthy follow-up to the first film? In my opinion? Heck to the yeah. If you ask me, this is a better film overall. The only main things I'd say are that the first has a more consistent second act and a better villain. While I say the two films are almost equally good, I think the best element missing from the last film was a stronger emotional connection to Hamza. While I still found him very interesting in the last film due to his mysterious, intense nature, the first and last chapters of this film add so much context for why he's an agent for India and why he does what he does. There's also a final act twist that adds a ton to one of the side characters. While the last film focused on Hamza's growth as a leader, this one centered on his emotional response to the great lengths a soldier must go to for his country. When one of Hamza's friends makes a great sacrifice, actors Gaurav Gera and Ranveer Singh really deliver a lot of emotion that wasn't in the film.
Most of my negative experiences with this film carry over from the last film: I won't re-cover them here for brevity's sake. But the only new problem is that this film kind of peaks with its phenomenal prologue, and since the most interesting villain died in the last film, the villain here is basically all the other bad government dudes. While they don't hinder this film enough to make it worse than the first, these two aspects continue to hold it back from being a 5-star film.
However, nothing stands out to me more about the movie than the fact that, throughout, this film's almost four-hour runtime, 21 minutes longer than the already lengthy original, it continues to find new ways to justify its runtime through more aura-farming epicness. I watched two other 90-minute films today, and both dragged a whole lot more than Dhurandhar: The Revenge. The film staying interesting throughout its entire runtime is truly its greatest strength.
The Reel Ranker Verdict
Reel or Unreel? - Reel
The Reel Ranker Score: 82%
Letter Score: A-
Star Ranking: 4 out of 5
Dhurandhar: The Revenge is more of what you loved about the first, delivering more political action-thriller suavity, morally gray characters, and tons of standout scenes. It also stands above the original by giving the protagonist far more depth, even if it comes at the cost of being the first film's great antagonist. I can't believe this four-hour film dragged less than most 90-minute films—a sign of its competency as a film.
Want to check out my review for the first film? Click the link below!
