Make no mistake, Commando is a poor film. The thrills are never quite there and, all of Janwal’s eagerness and leapfrog-skills aside, it must be remembered that a Bowie knife does not Rambo make. Especially when he gives it away to a stupid girl.

Jolly LLB is funny in parts but preachiness and the need to flaunt the film’s sincerity and heart get in the way

Give it a whirl. Like a Rado wristwatch that a character automatically dismisses for fake, this film may not look it but happens to be the real thing.

It is this anything-goes approach that carries itself on to the opening credits — with oddly tacky graphics of tossed coins and guns, as if to rub the film’s lack of finesse in our faces — and to the characters, who are introduced with no subtlety whatsoever: the word Gangster shows up with a funny gong sound, the Biwi appears to wailing B-movie siren sounds in the background.

This is a film that goes far out on a limb, and gives us both bedlam and nuances, enough to warrant repeated viewings. And more than enough to love. Oh boy oh boy indeed.

It’s evident these movies aren’t about anything but the person starring in them, and all that matters are punches and punchlines, both sadly unmemorable.

As an action movie it completely rocks. Just not as what it pretends to be. It’s a wailing guitar-riff of a movie, with an incessantly climactic drummer. Shake your head to it good, but don’t try and listen to the words.

It isn’t a well-shot, crisply edited, intelligently staged piece of cinema, but is warmly enough made to allow the legendary play to shine through.

It’s a somber, well-assembled film in contrast to the quick and flashy schlock that would have been doled out by the aforementioned merchants of middlebrow masala, and while the film’s craft — and the acting chops shared by its considerable cast — can’t at all be denied, it must also be said that perhaps the trashier approach may have worked better for this material. Or, at the very least, made for more fun.

As a swan-song for the master director, Jab Tak Hai Jaan might only be a middling effort. But then, sometimes, all we need is a Khan-song.