'Attack' movie review: John Abraham headlines lousy actioner

Director: Lakshya Raj Anand

Cast: John Abraham, Prakash Raj, Rakul Preet Singh, Jacqueline Fernandez

Language: Hindi

Rating: 2/5

While John Abraham is not perceived to be an actor par excellence, he has over the years carved a niche for himself as an action hero courtesy of films such as Satyameva Jayate and Batla House. With his new movie Attack, he has again tried to consolidate this image but the results are quite unsatisfactory.

The flick revolves around an Army officer who is paralysed after a shocking incident. He gets a chance to make a new beginning and settle some old scores because of the 'Super-soldier' programme, which is aimed at combating terrorism.

The basic plot is intriguing and caters to those fond of flicks such as Robocop and The Terminator. It, however, falls flat as the writing is virtually all over the place.

Attack opens with a combat scene, which tries to establish the protagonist as a braveheart. It then focuses on his love life, something that proves to be the film's undoing. The romantic sequences, involving John and Jacqueline Fernandez, fail to pack a punch as they feel rushed and half-baked. Their impact is further diluted by the fact that the two actors share no chemistry at all. These ineffective sequences are the reason Attack does not have anything resembling an emotional core. This in turn makes it impossible for fans to invest in the reel narrative. Frankly, even Marjaavan, which is hardly the gold standard for the action genre, fared better than Attack on this front as the track involving Sidharth Malhotra and Tara Sutaria added depth to the Milaap Zaveri-helmed film.

The interval block is mildly engaging but fails to lay a solid foundation for the second half. The portions following the intermission cater to die-hard fans of the action genre but have nothing to offer the neutral audience.

On the bright side, John tries to salvage the film with his sincere performance. He is good in the action sequences even though he does not meet the standards he set for himself with his work in Force or even Mumbai Saga.

Jacqueline is underutilised just the way she was in Bachchhan Paandey. Rakul and Prakash Raj deserved better.

The film features a couple of songs that have situational appeal but that's about it. The background score fails to build an aura around the characters as it is too generic. The other technical aspects are up to the mark.

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