Vijay rules the screen in the power-packed The Greatest of All Time (also marketed as GOAT), reported to be his penultimate film before he enters politics full-time.
The South Indian superstar, fondly known as Thalapathy (Commander), announced his political ambitions earlier this year after a three-decade acting career.
The 50-year-old’s final movie is reported to be directed by H Vinoth, the director of hit movies Sathuranga Vettai and Theeran Athigaram Ondru. Shooting is slated to begin later this year.
If his final foray is anything like GOAT, Vijay is set for a remarkable swansong.
The formula for GOAT isn’t groundbreaking by any means – it follows the age-old template of a revenge story where a villain seeks revenge on a hero who destroyed his life years before.
But what makes the movie special is director Venkat Prabhu’s treatment of the plot, the screenplay which is riddled with funny references of old movies, the music and various cameos by Shivakartikeyan, YG Mahendran and an AI version of the late actor Captain Vikayakanth.
The movie begins with M.S Gandhi (Vijay) engaging in a sting operation in Kenya with his team from the special anti-terrorism squad, comprising Ajay Govindharaj (Ajmal Ameer), Kalyan Sundaram (Prabhu Deva) and Sunil Thiagarajan (Prashanth), to recover stolen uranium from a terrorist group on a train – where he unexpectedly finds Rajiv Menon (Mohan) who is on the run after being accused of treason.
In the process of retrieving the uranium and capturing Rajiv, the train is blasted and Rajiv is believed to be dead.
Once the team is back in India, Gandhi is forced to bring his pregnant wife, Anuradha (Sneha), and son, Jeevan (Akhil) along with him for his next mission in Thailand, where things head south and the couple lose their son.
This leads to them living separate lives back in Chennai years later, taking turns to dote on their daughter, Jeevitha (Abyuktha).
Gandhi lives a quiet life till he is convinced by his peers to lead an immigration training project in Moscow where he ends up seeing his son, also played by Vijay, and brings him back to India to reconnect with the family.
However, Gandhi starts losing all his loved ones upon the arrival of Jeevan.
The question of whether Jeevan really is Gandhi’s son and what the young man’s role is in the mysterious deaths happening around him drives the rest of the story.
While the plot is generally predictable, Venkat Prabhu adds a few twists and turns to the story, which keeps the audience engaged despite the three-hour runtime.
As far as performances go, acting as a 50-year-old and a 21-year-old was certainly testament to Vijay’s acting prowess.
The de-ageing tech used for Vijay worked for the most part, save for one sequence where he was shown as a teenager.
The movie leans heavily on Vijay’s performance, and indeed it is the actor’s sheer charisma that carries the audience throughout the three-hour runtime.
For fans of Vijay, GOAT is a must-watch. At the very least, to savour the last vestiges of a fine actor.
