Hardly 15 minutes into the three-hour, three-minute, and three-second film, the film takes us to 13-odd locations. We also see a couple of high-profile assassinations take place. We move across places like Odisha, Scotland, France, London, and Kolkata, and within seven minutes of his appearance on screen, Vikram, who plays Madhi, a mathematical genius moonlighting as an assassin-for-hire, is shown in at least six different get-ups. It is clear director Ajay Gnanamuthu, much like the protagonist of his film, Cobra, loves numbers and puzzles. But in his attempt to give us a grand film that is a marriage of a clever thriller and a poignant emotional drama, Ajay falters quite a bit to give us a half-decent film that just about slithers to a tame end.
Firstly, Cobra wants to be a lot of things. However, it isn’t backed by sound writing to pull it all off. After an initial buildup about Madhi’s mathematical prowess in doing some of the most outlandish assassinations halfway across the world from his nondescript house in Chennai, we hardly see him exercise this brilliance. Yes, we see him wriggling out of some tight corners using his intellect, but we aren’t really sold on the mathematical part of it.
We have seen our fair share of Ethan Hunts, and even Agent Vikrams who have done all of it without knowing the difference between Pythagoras and Euclid. It is a shame that Ajay didn’t really flesh out this aspect of his protagonist rather than just making it a simple gimmick. This could have been forgiven if the other aspects of Cobra really came together to give us a gripping film.
The central plot of a mathematical genius/assassin meeting his match with a world-is-mine villain, an uber-smart Interpol officer, and one surprise villain does have the makings of a fun exercise… If only, the stars aligned.
Let’s take the case of the caricaturish villain, Rishi, who is played in the most outlandish of fashion by Roshan Mathew. It is a role that seems to have been modelled by Siddharth Abhimanyu and Harley Quinn. He exudes manic energy that comes across as a case of someone trying so hard that it hurts to watch because his role is all fluff and has no substance.
Irfan Pathan plays Interpol officer Aslan and is actually not bad at all, and in his case, it is nice to see someone try this hard, especially with his Tamil dialogues. Points to Ajay Gnanamuthu for giving Aslan enough high moments to ensure this role doesn’t just become another Aryan from Vivegam.
Similarly, Ajay neatly weaves the women — Srinidhi Shetty, Meenakshi Govindarajan, and Mirnalini Ravi — into the story. However, the dichotomy in the writing comes to the fore in the romance portions. While these scenes show potential, the dialogues are trite, and the performances are contrived too. These dips in the narrative take away from the highs that the assassin portions take us through.
The surprise package is definitely the roles played by Anandaraj, Muhammad Ali Baig, Miya George, and the actor who plays the childhood version of Vikram. These portions, powered by a terrific Vikram, are a hoot. It is such a relief from the other sequences that oscillate between vapid and exciting and nothing in between.
Despite whatever happens to the host of other characters or plot points in the film, there is no doubt that Cobra is only about one man… Vikram and his fascination for characters allow him to satiate his love for prosthetics.
It is a Vikram show through and through, and it is understandable why the actor felt so strongly about this film. Ajay peppers this film with a host of bright, bold, and interesting ideas, which don’t always hit the bull’s eye with their execution. AR Rahman’s background score (barring that grating pathos BGM) and solid songs aid the narrative, which jumps across timelines at the same pace that it jumps across continents.
This non-linear approach and throwing bits and pieces of information hoping that the latter half will resolve all these issues is both a hit and a miss. The plot gets unnecessarily convoluted, and the glimmers of brilliance are offset by the fillers that come in the form of romance and exposition.
With a premise like this, and a bunch of oh-so-convenient plot twists that definitely remind us of a few films, including a blockbuster Hindi film from the recent past, Cobra ticks almost all the boxes we have grown to expect from a Vikram starrer, including the disappointment of the actor being the brightest star in a rather middling film.
Director: Ajay Gnanamuthu
Cast: Vikram, Srinidhi Shetty, Roshan Mathew, Anandraj
Ratings: 2.5/5
(This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)