‘Kill’ Is the Over-the-Top Action Film of the Summer
Kill’s title card doesn’t arrive until the film’s 45-minute mark, at which point this delirious Indian action affair goes from being conventionally violent to jaw-droppingly, eye-poppingly, gasp-inducingly brutal. A no-holds-barred free-for-all that delivers exactly what it promises, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s feature has scant time for story and even less for character development. What it does boast, however, are brawls marked by the sort of viciousness that genre fans weaned on domestic (John Wick, Atomic Blonde) and foreign (The Villainess, Carter) bloodbaths have come to demand. Arriving in theaters on July 4 following its appearances at the Toronto, Sundance, and Tribeca Film Festivals, it’s a model midnight-movie beat-’em-up.
Amrit (Lakshya, in his big-screen debut) and his best pal Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan) are National Security Guard commandos and best friends,. After returning from their latest army mission, Amrit discovers that in his absence, his beloved girlfriend Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) has been forced by her father to accept another man’s marriage proposal. Upset by this news, Amrit attends the engagement party with the intention of running away with Tulika, but she balks at this plan. Far from dissuaded, Amrit subsequently tells Viresh that he’s not giving up on his and Tulika’s future because, “Bro, our love is much more powerful than her dad.” “What a line, Captain!” responds Viresh, undoubtedly because there’s nothing either of them likes more than starting each sentence with “bro.”
Amrit is a manly man whose every shirtless pose, intense stare, and turned head is accompanied by an over-the-top musical cue. In the wake of his failed attempt to elope with Tulika, he boards the evening train that she and her family—including teenage sister Aahna (Adrija Sinha) and dad Baldeo Singh Thakur (Harsh Chhaya), who’s a wealthy business magnate—are taking to Delhi. Out of the watchful eyes of her clan, Amrit proposes to Tulika in a bathroom, and she accepts. This should, in theory, create some conflict considering that Tulika is now betrothed to two different beaus, but Kill ignores those complications. The later revelation that Baldeo never knew about Amrit even though he’s been dating Tulika for four years (!) proves a similar bit of nonsensicality that’s never adequately explained.