Look hot, act cool, fight tough. When it comes to action thrillers, Abbas-Mustan obviously stick to that brief while instructing their cast. The idea has clicked for the director duo for years though they fell flat with Players last year.
Abbas-Mustan never believed in giving much of a brief to their writers, though. In most cases the script has indulgent winks at a foreign hit or two, suitably altered for desi tastes. Smart packaging and an engaging narrative style do the rest of the trick.
Race 2 sticks to these basics, except the part about engaging storytelling. Too much confusion is in store here as a mixmash of ‘inspirations’ unfolds. Scenes and situations you may have already seen on the Hollywood screen pile up. But there is another source of inspiration here. The first Race, a clever copy of the 1998 Hollywood B-flick Goodbye Lover, saw a monstrous box-office kill in 2008. On cue, Abbas-Mustan retain every formula that worked the first time- in terms of form, storytelling and even casting pattern. Itâs the same race, only with more chaos.
So Saif Ali Khan does a dapper encore as the good bad guy. John Abraham fills in for Akshaye Khanna as Saif’s hunk of a nemesis. Jacqueline Fernandes coldly tries rehashing Katrina Kaif’s Zara zara touch me moves with Lat lag gayee, and Deepika Padukone amps up the oomph punch of Bipasha Basu in this sequel. The action scenes are a rehash- only bigger and more expensive- though they’ve given the girls some kickbutt stunts this time, too.
While on the plot, it would be interesting to play Race and Race 2 side by side on two adjacent screens, to check out if twists are introduced in the story at exactly the same points of the runtime. Like Race, the friction between the hero and the antihero is what drives the sequel. Once the girls enter the frame, it becomes clear- just as in Race- that romantic equations in this film are not what they seem.
John plays Armaan, tough casino king whose step-sister Elena (Deepika Padukone) runs his empire. Armaan’s arm candy is Omisha (Jacqueline Fernandez). Despite an early confrontation, Ranvir Singh (Saif) agrees to partner Armaan on a heist. The twist comes when Ranvir discovers Armaan could be responsible for the death of his lover Sonia (Bipasha Basu in the first film).
Race 2 is smart in the way it repeats its tested cliches, although the suspense quotient is certainly not the brightest you have seen. A patchy script wholly banks on its stylish cast and a more stylish treatment. Oops… was that also my line when I reviewed Race four years back?
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