GORILLA MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

Tamil cinema has seen a lot of films in which one of the central characters is played by an animal (recent examples include Monster and Thumba). In Don Sandy directed Gorilla, one of the major characters is a chimpanzee. The film stars Jiiva and Shalini Pandey in lead roles while the comic relief duties are undertaken by Sathish, Yogi Babu, Vivek Prasanna, Mottai Rajendhar and others.

The film revolves around a small-time crook Jeeva (played by Jeeva) and his accomplices, which also includes a debt-ridden farmer (played by Madhan) and the pet chimpanzee Kong as they plan to rob a bank. Gorilla is a heist movie at heart, but is burdened by mediocrity and unwanted sidetracks, like the tepid romance between Jeeva and Jhansi (played by Shalini Pandey) a pixie whose mere existence adds no major importance to the plot.

The first half establishes Jeeva's nature as a conman, where he gets away with easy pickings in the bus, pharmacy, and a clinic. We don't feel any intrigue during those portions since the con jobs are pulled off so easily, without a plan or anything that reflects the gullibility of his victims. We get to see some half-hearted attempts at social commentary, as the dialogues in the farmer's subplot come across as well-intentioned WhatsApp messages. Some of the anti-establishment jokes work, like the gag involving a stack of pirated DVDs.

One of the most essential aspects of a caper is that the humour must arrive through situations and the gags work well when it is rooted in the plot. But in Gorilla, the jokes don't fall into the aforementioned category. The film tries too hard to elicit humour in the form of one-liners, which includes body-shaming jibes at the chimp. But one knows that the writers have run out of ideas when we see one of the comedians repeating the same line thrice. The first half is bereft of setups that leads us to the bank robbery, or even moments where they gear for that. As a result, we get a middling interval block that fails to act as a cliffhanger.

The second half is filled with inconsequential moments that do not even attempt to create tension. Instead, the film goes downhill with more off-coloured jibes on Yogi Babu's appearance (by now, these jokes are becoming stale). The storytelling becomes unfocused at this point. To justify the amorality associated with the genre of heist films, a subplot involving farmer's plight is force-fed into the film. Serious issues like these must be treated and portrayed with sensitivity, whereas here, the whole theme seems to have highlighted in a jingoistic manner. The subplot sticks out like a sore thumb

The lack of interesting and engaging factor in the storytelling is evident when we see the film cashing too much on adult comedy and the rehash of clichés thrown at us throughout the narrative. Even in terms of form, the film is amateurishly staged, particularly during the bank robbery sequences, where one doesn't feel the risk factor at all. The chimpanzee's presence does not help the film either, except for a few crotch jokes. The storytelling lacked grip, interest factor that made Gorilla less engaging.

GORILLA VIDEO REVIEW