Dhoom 3 is a sloppily scripted sandwich of hammy acting and cheesy dialogue. Which wouldn’t have mattered if it was at least as much fun as the previous two films, because this franchise has never promised much more than cool men on fast bikes, and hot women in short skirts. But the new movie lacks the required adrenaline rush of a Fast and Furious-type thriller, instead falling prey to the kind of melodrama and over-plotting that doesn’t belong here.

Like our very own Sanjay Gupta’s desi remake Zinda, this one too is all style over any real substance.

Unfortunately writer-director Sanjay Tripathy can’t lift this script from its quicksand of predictability, and can’t avoid the mawkish melodrama that stories like these inevitably slip into. That, along with a clumsy, overlong climax, makes ‘Club 60’ a rather dull affair in the end. I’m going with two out of five – it’s a sincere film, but one that could’ve benefited from smarter writing and slicker treatment.

To dismiss ‘R… Rajkumar’ merely as a throwback to those cheerfully low-IQ 80s potboilers would mean letting off the makers too easily, for this is cinema of the most exhausting kind. The climax alone carries on for over 15 minutes, in which Shahid is repeatedly stabbed, and then whacked around with everything from iron rods to wooden planks. He survives, but you almost don’t.

Up until the halfway mark, Bullett Raja is rollicking entertainment. Our gangster protagonists kill, maim, kidnap, and intimidate their rivals, all the while bickering and joking, in Dhulia’s direct nod to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Sadly the film’s screenplay comes undone post intermission, its second half disintegrating into a bloody revenge saga.

Good actors can improve mediocre material; this film is evidence of that. Watch it to unwind after a long day at work.

We’d have cared more about this mismatched couple had the makers invested in a sharper script. It’s as enjoyable as drinking a cup of tea that’s been left out in the cold.

The film, however, is doomed. There’s plenty hilarity but no hope for this tragic prostitute’s story.

As superhero movies go, this is underwhelming stuff. …Only enjoyable in spurts.

…not so much an engaging film as it is an interesting idea that Varma squanders away with a hackneyed script, and an ensemble of over-actors. We’ve been waiting for a film that gives us a fresh take on crime in the city. Sadly, this is not that film.