Time to crack my knuckles and wear a bib. It's another movie that incorporates video games into its plot, up front and the center of attention this time around. Filmmakers hardly ever are able to successfully incorporate the popular field of entertainment into their motion pictures. Video games are no longer a popular fad or an unknown entity to people, with 30+ years of history now. There's no excuse, no reason to be able to grasp and understand both video game logic and video game design and display it correctly on the big screen.
As a resident nitpicker when it comes to these problems, I again was not shocked to witness that RA.ONE gets a failing grade when it comes to videogames. The hot new exciting video game created by Shahrukh Khan's character and his staff is a big money pit waiting to happen. The game in question, sharing the same name of the film, is an one on one fighting game that can only be played through a virtual reality body harness. This surely expensive harness some how has perfect synchronization with movement and no presence of lag, something the Wii and Kinect still haven't solved. So, with absolutely no alternate controller option, the consumer is forced to purchase a giant accessory in order to interact; a peripheral that most assuredly has far higher expenditures compared to the game's expected revenue. The people who worked on Steel Battalion now can enjoy a good laugh.
If you thought the game-within-the-film is good or perfect to play in real-life, you don't know movie video games. It is simply a bare-bones fighting game, using the best of three rounds mentality most associated with them. You strictly can only play as G.One, forever in battle with the menacing, so devilishly evil Ra.One. And yeah, that's it. No online functionality, no multi-player, no extra features. A two hundred to three hundred dollar gimmick video game, my projected price range upon release, and Khan truly expects this to turn a profit and save both his job and the favor of his son.
Honestly, my long rant and choice to talk about video game production is really the only interesting things to ponder about from this vapor Bollywood blockbuster. Not even a major plot twist in the first half involving Khan could peek my interest. I simply did not care if Khan's son would be killed by a reality-invading Ra.One or if Khan and his wife Sonia could rekindle their romantic feelings. RA.ONE fails completely its in direction and plot; a re-fried TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, with a sprinkling of IRON MAN, and high ambitions to top ROBOT as the most blisteringly stupid sci-fi musical of all time.
Blame shouldn't fall on anyone in the cast. Khan brings his trademarked charm and Kareena Kapoor, as Sonia, is able to play up both the immense inner and external beauty of her character. I even greatly enjoyed Armaan Verma, the child actor playing Khan's son, who can safely be called the best of the bunch. These three have great chemistry and comic timing with each other but they are constantly hurt by clunky dialogue, action sequences that go far too long, and lame musical numbers set to songs by Akon of all people.
Rather than existing as a dumb but always smile-inducing Hindi rendition of ROBOT, RA.ONE has no soul and is filled to the borders with utter dullness. It is a long two and half hours and no laughable CGI effects or film cameos can change the massive frown I had sitting through it.
FINAL REVIEW: 2 / 5
No comments:
Post a Comment