Por Thozhil - Spare the rod

 


Por Thozhil
Tamil, 2023

Writer/Director: Vignesh Raja
Stars: R Sarathkumar, Ashok Selvan, Nikhala Vimal, Sarath Babu

Mohan's Measure: ⭐⭐⭐

Por Thozhil is without doubt a classic investigate thriller. It has the acting, the grittiness, and the occasional gore to glue us to our seats. Plus it has all the good elements borrowed from Hollywood films of this genre, a seasoned cop and bookish rookie, a woman in a pivotal role, and most importantly, a damn good villain.  Surprisingly, and with due homage to his acting skills, Mr. Sarath Babu offers us someone both to hate and empathize with in this, his final performance prior to his untimely departure from this world.

Both Mr. Kumar and Mr. Selvan give equally fine performances, creating a thin, but believable father-son relationship between them that gives the movie both merit and some room for comedy.  Ms. Vimal's role, however is weakened in having to put aside moments of intelligent policing o offer a subtle romantic overtone to the story, which I personally feel weakens the film.  In fact, we never are offered much of an explanation for why she in this movie.

Further weakening the movie is the backstory, a strong message about childrearing that, while good, puts us into a needless flashback reminiscent of Spyder.. Nonetheless, the message hits us as hard as the violence.  Sparing the rod doesn't spoil the child, using it does,  with very devastating results.


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