Leo, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and heavily inspired by David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence (2005), yields mixed results and ranks among the weaker entries in the director’s filmography.
Parthibaran “Parthi” (Vijay) is an ordinary family man who runs a coffee shop in the small town of Theog in North India, where he lives happily with his wife Sathya (Trisha Krishnan) and their two children, Siddhu (Mathew Thomas) and Chintu (Iyal). One night, four thugs break into his coffee shop to steal money. Initially, Parthi tries to diffuse the situation by offering them cash, but when they threaten his daughter, things get heated, and he kills them all in a brutal fight. As a result, he is apprehended and incarcerated, only to be released once it is established in court that the deaths were justified acts of self-defense, but not before his photo appears in the newspapers all over India. Harold Das (Arjun) recognizes Parthi’s photo and shows it to his brother, Anthony Das (Sanjay Dutt), both notorious gangsters from the southern Indian state of Telangana. They believe that Parthi resembles Anthony’s late son, Leo Das (Vijay), a ruthless gangster who worked for his tobacco company (which was a front for smuggling drugs), and did all his dirty work. Leo and his father had a falling out, which resulted in a fight that started a fire at the tobacco factory and left Leo missing, presumed dead. Anthony takes a trip to Theog and, after meeting with Parthi, becomes convinced that he is Leo and wants him to admit it. However, he vehemently denies it and writes off the whole thing as a case of mistaken identity. As a result, people around Parthi, including Sathya and his Forest Ranger friend Joshy Andrews (Gautham Menon), suspect him and start digging into his past. Finally, Anthony grows tired of waiting for Parthi to reveal himself as Leo, and tensions between them reach a breaking point, endangering Parthi’s family.
There is an impressively staged and well-executed action scene early in the film in which we see a hyena (with passable CGI of the animal) wreaking havoc in the town. When Parthi learns that the hyena is approaching a school full of kids, he risks his life to catch it. The scene sets up the film and Parthi’s character perfectly. Lokesh does a good job of constructing Parthi’s world by showing him to be a simple man with a loving and devoted family who all share a strong bond and lead regular lives. He cheerfully serves coffee to customers while chatting and laughing with them and generally comes across as a likable guy who has become an integral part of the community. The film’s emotional impact is amplified by the sight of an ordinary man like Parthi thrown into extraordinary situations, and it is refreshing to watch Vijay, who is usually associated with playing larger-than-life characters, in a role like this. The coffee shop sequence where the inciting incident occurs is easily the film’s high point. The scene begins with the thugs breaking into the coffee shop, where Parthi, his daughter, and a female employee are present, intending to rob the place and kill everyone inside. It’s in situations like these that Lokesh really shows his mettle as a storyteller, as he’s a master at creating tense situations that gradually increase in intensity before exploding into shocking acts of violence. And dare I say, this sequence outperforms the one in the original film by being more visceral, violent, and energetic. The film’s first half is enthralling and lives up to the expectations and hype that Lokesh Kanagaraj’s recent films have generated.
However, Leo falls prey to the standard template of Indian mainstream action films by going into a flashback right after the interval, whose purpose, in the case of Leo, was to delve deeper into the titular character, establish the main villains, and reveal a justifiable reason behind the rift between him and his father, Anthony. The flashback, in my opinion, proves to be a squandered opportunity that fails to accomplish any of the above goals. For instance, Lokesh attributing the conflict between the father and son to superstition was entirely illogical and absurd within the context of the film. Additionally, the film lacks a formidable villain (something that Lokesh did very well in creating Vijay Sethupathi’s character in Master (2021)), since Sanjay Dutt’s character is underwritten and poorly performed, failing to make an impact despite being given ample screen time. In contrast, William Hurt’s character in A History of Violence gets only one sequence towards the end, but he is significantly more ruthless and intimidating than Sanjay Dutt’s character in Leo. And that’s the power of writing that Leo lacked.
The film continues to decline and never rebounds after the lackluster flashback, followed by a series of action sequences that fail to impress. Unfortunately, Anirudh’s score also disappoints, resulting in a rare miss for him. The car chase sequence was an attempt at something ambitious, and we can see that Lokesh had a distinct vision to execute it, but the CGI lets him down, and the action feels like it came straight out of a video game. Furthermore, the knife fight between Parthi and hundreds of goons was so lifeless and monotonous that, towards the end, you probably won’t even care about the outcome.
Although the film succeeds as a family drama, especially in Parthi’s relationship with each family member, it still falls short of being as profound and moving as in A History of Violence. In that film, the husband and wife’s bond is so strong, and they understand each other so well that when he does one thing out of character, she immediately notices it, realizes something is wrong, and learns that he is not who he claims to be. But in Leo, Parthi fights like a pro, as if he’s got military training, brutally killing several goons alone with ease in front of Sathya’s eyes, and she still fails to notice anything unusual about him. Sathya’s suspicions about her husband become apparent only after Anthony Das confronts her and warns her that he is a killer, which reflects poorly on their relationship and indicates how shallow their love really is. To make matters worse, the makers depart from the original film’s ending by excluding Sathya from the suspense concerning Parthi’s true identity, which harms the film and raises issues about the depth of their mutual understanding.
Leo could have been a far better film, but its shortcomings stem from Lokesh’s writing and handling of the material.
Leo movie links: IMDB, letterboxd
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