THE villain mocks the caped vigilante in the climax of Mugamoodi. He asks him whether he's Batman, Spider-Man, Superman or Iron Man.
Viewers, too, will ask themselves that question. Is this movie a rip-off of the above-mentioned flicks, or does it just use Western superhero flicks as its template but adds a touch of kung-fu to make it different?
Mugamoodi, I believe, does the latter, and with insouciance.
Mysskin's film does hold your attention at the beginning, but once all the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place, a certain déjà vu will hit viewers.
Also, viewers expecting fireworks between the superhero and his female lover will be disappointed. The woman pops in and out in the first half of the flick but then disappears, only to return to make a cameo at the end.
Compare this to the relationship between Peter Parker and Mary Jane in this year's The Amazing Spider-Man. They really heat up the screen, but the two lovers in Mugamoodi are like embers.
At the start, we are introduced to ruthless baddies wearing black who rob the homes of rich elderly people. The cops are flummoxed by the robberies so they rope in a top cop, Gaurav (Nasser), to help them solve the cases.
Gaurav points out that the robbers hit the homes of the rich and elderly, and have gotten brazen over time. This begs the question: why don't the cops station themselves near these homes?
Another unusual point is that these superflexible baddies arrive outside the homes of their targets in huge rubbish bins. Now, I'm sure we all detest robbers, but don't you think that these baddies would have thought of a more dignified way to break into homes?
Our superhero is Anand (Jiiva), an unemployed man who's obsessed about kung-fu and worships Bruce Lee. In fact, everyone calls him Lee.
Hong Kong stunt coordinator Tony Leung choreographed the fight scenes. While the fighting isn't what you'd see in 'Ip Man', you'd be happy with the effort put into these scenes.
Lee is besotted with Shakthi (movie débutant Pooja Hegde, the second runner-up of the 2011 Miss Universe India), who happens to be the daughter of Gaurav (shades of The Amazing Spider-Man).
His attempts to woo her by dressing up in a tight blue spandex outfit, but one day, he's finds himself in a shootout.
While escaping, his best friend is killed and Shakthi thinks he killed her dad. Jiiva decides to get serious with his part-time gig, and recruits the help of some tailors to come up with a new tight blue spandex outfit.
He goes after super villain Angusamy (Narain), who's the leader of a band of kung-fu robbers. Production notes say his character is based on Health Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight, but with all that sneering and eye-balling, it looks more like Hannibal Lecter.
The climax takes place in the docks, the meeting point for all superheroes and villains in movies, and our superhero even gets to save a bus full of schoolchildren from falling. Where have I seen that before?
Viewers, too, will ask themselves that question. Is this movie a rip-off of the above-mentioned flicks, or does it just use Western superhero flicks as its template but adds a touch of kung-fu to make it different?
Mugamoodi, I believe, does the latter, and with insouciance.
Mysskin's film does hold your attention at the beginning, but once all the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place, a certain déjà vu will hit viewers.
Also, viewers expecting fireworks between the superhero and his female lover will be disappointed. The woman pops in and out in the first half of the flick but then disappears, only to return to make a cameo at the end.
Compare this to the relationship between Peter Parker and Mary Jane in this year's The Amazing Spider-Man. They really heat up the screen, but the two lovers in Mugamoodi are like embers.
At the start, we are introduced to ruthless baddies wearing black who rob the homes of rich elderly people. The cops are flummoxed by the robberies so they rope in a top cop, Gaurav (Nasser), to help them solve the cases.
Gaurav points out that the robbers hit the homes of the rich and elderly, and have gotten brazen over time. This begs the question: why don't the cops station themselves near these homes?
Another unusual point is that these superflexible baddies arrive outside the homes of their targets in huge rubbish bins. Now, I'm sure we all detest robbers, but don't you think that these baddies would have thought of a more dignified way to break into homes?
Our superhero is Anand (Jiiva), an unemployed man who's obsessed about kung-fu and worships Bruce Lee. In fact, everyone calls him Lee.
Hong Kong stunt coordinator Tony Leung choreographed the fight scenes. While the fighting isn't what you'd see in 'Ip Man', you'd be happy with the effort put into these scenes.
Lee is besotted with Shakthi (movie débutant Pooja Hegde, the second runner-up of the 2011 Miss Universe India), who happens to be the daughter of Gaurav (shades of The Amazing Spider-Man).
His attempts to woo her by dressing up in a tight blue spandex outfit, but one day, he's finds himself in a shootout.
While escaping, his best friend is killed and Shakthi thinks he killed her dad. Jiiva decides to get serious with his part-time gig, and recruits the help of some tailors to come up with a new tight blue spandex outfit.
He goes after super villain Angusamy (Narain), who's the leader of a band of kung-fu robbers. Production notes say his character is based on Health Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight, but with all that sneering and eye-balling, it looks more like Hannibal Lecter.
The climax takes place in the docks, the meeting point for all superheroes and villains in movies, and our superhero even gets to save a bus full of schoolchildren from falling. Where have I seen that before?