When things that are commendable are few and far between, it’s not an easy watch. For all the “Aaluma Doluma” about ‘Vedalam’, the impact is just about a fingerprint. There isn’t enough strength in it to pack a punch.

At 157 minutes, Vedalam is but an Ajith Kumar show (all the way where Menon and Haasan are wasted). The man arrives with a big bang and never tires of bashing up baddies — but now and then taking a break to cleanse society of minor evils like fooling law courts or cheating on wives.
Certainly not for children, who might wonder how Phantom sprung out of their favourite comic books in such a horrifically mutated form.

The Ajith starrer Diwali blockbuster Vedalam largely depends on the mass appeal and star power of the actor with a script sans solid content and logic and just tailor-made by for him. Though the story travels in predictable lines, it has high-octane stunt sequences, bro-sis sentiment, and loads of punch lines, hit songs to satisfy the mass audiences.

This movie is an out and out commercial entertainer. Director Siruthai Siva has ensured that there is plenty for Ajith fans and the family audience. Ajith has punch dialogues, high octane action sequences and all the right dance moves. He plays the good and the bad with ease and is a treat to watch on screen.

If you are okay with a movie with an invincible hero, who can take down 20 or 30 men at a time and if you can put up with an overdose of sentiment, then you can like Vedalam. And don’t bother about that frame during the end credits which says that the film is dedicated to all women. It has nothing to do with the film whatsoever. Seems like Siva has used it as an answer to all those who ask, “But what is the takeaway from the film?”

As much as I would like to praise Ajith as an actor, I would really need to criticise how he chooses his scripts. For Vedalam has nothing new to offer to the actor, other than tap on his already popular mass image. Though the teaser of the film and (even the title) gave us a slight hint of some supernatural stuff or split personality stuff, there is nothing of that sort in the film. Ajith’s character is like any typical massy Tamil hero – he is an indestructible killing machine, for whom swords, hockey sticks, guns and 100 goons don’t matter

When there is a mass hero, action comes along like his shadow and Vedalam has its fair share of ‘thiruvizha’ action moments resulting from the revenge theme of the film. There are three hunky villains falling into the commercial cinema template completely.