Plot Summary
At the beginning of this Tamil language Indian movie Enemy, we are introduced to two main characters called Chozhan played by Vishal, and Ramalingam his father, played by Thambi Ramaiyah. Now, we are taken to the childhood of Vishal. He is brought up in a very safe environment where his father seems concerned about things. Vishal always considers the downsides of a particular thing. He is a pessimistic person. So, he always teaches his son Vishal to stay out of trouble. That’s when a new boy joins his school and stays right behind the house of Vishal. He is then introduced as Rajiv played by Arya who’s father is a police officer who has been injured and retired due to a fire shootout out which resulted in him being scarred for life. His father is played by Prakash Raj.
Vishal’s life was going pretty bland as nothing interesting was happening in his life. But Arya on the other hand is trained by his father at an early age to become a lawful police officer. Vishal peeks and watches Arya being trained by his father every day. He gets excited by Prakash Raj’s methods.
Missing Rubik cube
One day Prakash Raj realizes that one of his son’s Rubik cube has been gone missing. He finds out that Vishal had purloined it out of curiosity. Prakash Raj then instructs both Vishal and Arya to solve the Rubik cube and starts the timer. To his surprise, Vishal finishes first despite only knowing the Rubik cube for a matter of months. He is then convinced of him and decides to train Vishal and Arya both together. Initially, Arya gets jealous of this, but they get along well as time passes by.
One day when Vishal goes to Prakash Raj’s house, he is shocked by a gruesome scene where Prakash Raj is lying dead with Arya weeping beside him. When Vishal’s father gets to know of this. He grabs his son and flies abroad as his character is so concerned about not being caught in these types of activities. Cut to present, Vishal is living in Singapore in a Tamil community along with his father who is now running a successful grocery store. The audience witness that Vishal secretly helps people there without the knowledge of his father.
Ashwita falls in love
He takes risks as if it’s nothing. While helping one of the med school students, he stumbles upon Ashwita played by Mrinalini Ravi. He falls in love with her. Things escalate in the Enemy movie as we see a Chinese corporate company plan to assassinate the Indian Foreign affairs minister. They hire a high-profile Hitman for this job. Then an explosion takes place near Vishal’s grocery store. Things get personal as eleven men die who were very close to Vishal. Upon investigation, he finds out that this incident was caused to change the foreign affairs minister’s route so that the Hitman could take the minister out easily.
It is then revealed that the Hitman is Arya himself. Vishal attends the function in which the minister participates because he knows that something is about to go bad. His prediction becomes true but Vishal ends up saving the minister. This sparks madness in Arya and he desperately searches for the man behind it. Upon knowing that it was Vishal, things get spicy as they both start the cat and mouse game that they used to play in their childhood. Only this time, it involves the lives of people.
The Screenplay
enemy has an exciting first half which made the movie special. It goes on a fast pace making the audience anticipate the next scene. The reason behind it was the screenplay. It was written in a way that it gripped the audience’s gaze with exciting new elements and methods that we’ve never witnessed before. Parallelly, it fit the action movie template perfectly as well.
But as Enemy goes to the second half, we see a certain instability in the screenplay structure as some things are illogical. It seems as If it was written in a hurry instead of thinking it through. In the first half of Enemy, we are convinced that this is going to be one hell of a ride, but we witness its contrary, unfortunately. It’s a shame considering how good Enemy was and the potential it had to be a great action flick that could be known throughout history.
Action Choreography
One of the good things about the movie is the stunts and fight sequences that take place towards the end. It looks like it was taken on a minimum budget, but the creators have utilized it very well. Moreover, the fights look very close to reality and cinematic at the same time.
Other Pros and Cons
Pros: The story in Enemy does not waste time by going into unnecessary things. The movie goes straight to the point with an eye-catching flashback in the beginning. The music composition seems very apt to the story and does justice to its genre. On par with that, the usage of money should be appreciated as they have not spent their budget on useless things that does zero impact on the movie whatsoever. In addition to that, Vishal’s and Arya’s performances seem very convincing, and they have done justice to their role. Prakash Raj and thambi Ramaiya are a special mention.
Cons: The second of Enemy is a huge setback for the film. It changes our opinion of the movie which is a nightmare for every filmmaker. This is due to the lack of effort put into writing and executing the second half Enemy.
Overall Verdict (3/5 Stars)
Vishal and Arya’s new action flick looks convincing at the start, but the integrity and the quality deteriorate as it nears the end. It’s a one-time watchable for its first half and the convincing stunt choreography.