Film review: Shankar's 'I' is a great looking film but with shoddy writing and poorly sketched characters

Director: Shankar
Cast: Vikram, Amy Jackson, Upen Patel, Suresh Gopi, Santhanam
Rating: ***

What it's about: A son-of-the-soil bodybuilder, Lingesan has one seemingly unattainable dream, being with the love of his life, a supermodel named Diya. Well, he does have more, one of which includes winning bodybuilding competitions on a national level. And while, as time passes, he does become a supermodel himself and does fall in love (seemingly successfully) with Diya, he makes enemies early on - a guy he defeats at a local competition, then the 'reigning supermodel' and won't-take-no-for-an-answer John, then a gay make-up artiste and an advertising guru. They get a local doctor to inject him with an I virus, terribly deforming him and making sure he hides away in the shadows, but will he?

What's hot: The CG, the SFX, the VFX are all above-par, by Indian standards (do we have Peter Jackson to thank?). The DI and post-production make this a great-looking product. It's easy to see that Vikram gives the role his all. As has Shankar with the direction. As has AR Rahman, with the film's scoring. The action scenes do stand out (especially the cycle stunt scene in China), but are they all enough?

What's not: The chemistry between Vikram's Lingesan and Amy's Diya is seriously lacking. And no one villain really stands out. And that really hurts a film that relies so heavily on technical razzmatazz. Also, the writing is quite shoddy and unbelievable. The characters are too poorly sketched to have any impact. The story moves back and forth in time too much and is cause for much confusion. And three hours is too long for a film, unless it really captures your attention and doesn't let go. 

What to do: Too long, too contrived but a good-looking leave-your-brains-at-home film. Watch this one only if you've got time to kill.