Mission: Chapter 1

'Guna must rescue his daughter from a terminal illness while also protecting his country from terrorists in London' would be a one-line summary of Mission (Chapter 1? Seriously Vijay?).

A mix-match of Thandavam, and many Hari films, we get an 'I have seen it before' kind of film, except the part, where it is mostly shot in London (or Ramoji Film City, who knows). 'Mission' must have solely relied on North Indian or Andhra markets as the scope of the patriotic-action-adventure genre of films has become limited in Tamil Nadu. That being said, it is not a complete waste of a film. Vijay's efforts in story-telling have not gone unnoticed, for there are no musical numbers to interrupt the story with vivid characterization, where supporting characters get to have their spotlight moments - which they spoil with their lack of intelligence but we will come to it later. The stunt is cool, especially with an action sequence with Nimisha at the end of the film that I really enjoyed.

Amy Jackson was a pain to watch on screens, especially her Tamil. Vijay should understand that it is okay to let the actors speak dialogues in their languages and later dub that in Tamil, instead of telling an artificial story where everyone speaks Tamil. Typical cliches of commercial cinema were excruciating to watch, even for my father. Guna fights ten people at a time, Guna falls in the canal but somehow doesn't drown, Guna must always take the spotlight and be the only character with common sense, Guna, a person with a sharp intelligence somehow misses his purse now and then, Guna doesn't see a snitch from miles away but can smell out all the other criminals, and so much more!

A stereotypical Punjabi 'friend' who also speaks Tamil, too many dialogues that are cringe, an unwanted flashback, a weak antagonist who is short of manpower at all times, a stupid child that doesn't live up to its hype, snitches being snitches for about 70% of the film without getting caught - you could list the drawbacks of Mission: Chapter 1 in a complete roll of toilet paper and still you might have some points. In my opinion, Vijay should have trimmed Mission around 90 minutes and the storyline should have been sharp.

To conclude, Mission might be embarrassing to watch for some, and exhausting for many, but it is still a decent attempt. 2.5/5.