Take a look at the top 7 reviews for Bollywood's 'Phantom'.
Film: Phantom
Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Zeeshan Ayyub
Director: Kabir Khan
The Plot:
Kabir Khan’s Phantom is the story of one man eliminating the four masterminds of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan), a disgraced army officer, is living a life of isolation till the head of RAW offers him a discreet mission— killing the four big guns behind the terror attack in Mumbai. Daniyal’s operation begins in London where he encounters Nawaz (Katrina Kaif) who is entrusted with the job of helping him identify the first of the lot. Post his success in London, Daniyal heads to Chicago where his next victim is David Headley. The film then travels through war-torn Syria to finally land in Pakistan where Daniyal, aided by Nawaz, is now targeting Lashkar’s most dreaded man, Hariz Saeed.
The reviews are already in for Phantom released Friday and it doesn't look good for the most anticipated film in Bollywood.
#MustRead: DNA review: Phantom review: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif shine in Kabir Khan's 26/11 revenge fantasy
Here are a few excerpts from the top five:
1. The Indian Express: Kabir Khan’s thriller with Katrina Kaif, Saif Ali Khan has no crackle, only fizz
"Not only is the telling of Phantom tepid, the story itself seems to have been cobbled together from the adventures of Messrs Bond and Bourne and and several other worthies on the same much-trodden beat." Read the entire review here
2. Hindustan Times: Jingoism, bad acting spoil this Bollywood potboiler
"For all the high-pitched drama that you would expect from a story as charged, Phantom simply lacks the thrill. Not that the script does not try. In fact, it tries a little too hard to build the tempo around events at several points in the film." Read the entire review here
3. NDTV: Phantom Movie Review
"Imagine a sequence in which two Indian secret agents are in the Syrian army's line of fire in rebel-controlled Qudssaya, with a Pakistani operative tracking them. The duo fights back, but Phantom is unable even in this perilous situation in a conflict zone to generate the expected edge-of-the-seat tension. It feels like just another routine action scene." Read the entire review here
4. The Hindu: Phantom: Agent provocateur
"The problem lies with the writing and the lead players. Perhaps, Kabir thought of the film when a surgical strike in Pakistan was a pipe dream even in Bollywood. After Agent Vinod, D Day and Baby, we know the format. Take the audience to global hot spots of terror, eliminate some sidekicks and in the second half land in Pakistan, try to draw a line between religion and terror and then pump in the bullets. Of course the hero or his boss has to be a Muslim to balance the equations. Perhaps India’s RAW chief in the film (Sabyasachi Chakrabarty) is not aware of all this format. So when one of his boys (Zeishan Ayyub) suggests this tried and trusted formula he looks unnecessarily surprised."Read the entire review here
5. Firstpost: Phantom review: In typical Bollywood style, Saif, Katrina and Kabir Khan avenge 26/11
"Despite some slick action scenes as well as carefully-designed sets that recreate Syria and Pakistan, all comes to naught as the film reaches for Titanic ending."
"If you’re in Mumbai, go down to Colaba and take a walk alongside the Taj Mahal Hotel. Watch the tourists and remember for a moment the images of the hotel’s distinctive dome with plumes of black smoke winding out of it. It’ll be more poignant than 147 minutes of Phantom."Read the entire review here
6. Catch News: Phantom forgets terrorism is a crime against humanity, not just a country
"Kabir Khan has mastered the art of cinematic subterfuge by now. Though loosely based on an already loose version of Bourne excesses (Mumbai Avengers), Khan injects it with an urgency that distracts from an overambitious plot."
"Has Kabir Khan tried to overcompensate by going guns-and-business on us after the emotional bombardment of Bajrangi?" Read the entire review here
7. Dedh Minute Review by Aniruddha Guha
Watch: Phantom trailer
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