Film: Mr X
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Aruonday Singh, Amyra Dastur,
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Rating: *
What's it about:
A desi attempt to Bollywoodize the 2000 Kevin Bacon film Hollow Man, Mr X is a shoddy gimmick at trying to put together a sorry excuse of a plot to make a 3D film. Emraan Hashmi and Amyra Dastur plays two anti-terrorist department agents whose love story takes an unexpected turn when their chief played by Arunoday Singh decides to go rouge on them. Emraan's transformation into 'Mr X' from being an ordinary human being is unintentionally funny! Not only does the premise look ridiculously banal, but the way it has been shot looks highly amateurish. The plot then slides into a molten muck of cliche ridden dialogues and CGI stunts that will test your patience.
What's hot:
Not much. Honestly there is very little to praise in the film. Emraan tries his best to salvage the situation, but there isn't much he can do. You can actually feel for him in a few scenes where he's trying real hard to convince the audience to believe in this story. There is some novelty to the whole invisibility act early on, but that too fades away quickly. Arunoday Singh has a few scenes that let him rise above the sorry script.
What's not:
Troubles start early on for Mr X, in a time where special effects and storylines are getting richer, the film turns back the hands of time and sets everything back by years. Even though in concept the film might have sounded interesting, in execution it is an epic fail. Plus, the idea of leaving logic and reason behind in any Vikram Bhatt movie is expected, but in Mr X the pressure to do the same is immense. Every Emraan Hashmi film is usually blessed with great music, unfortunately the soundtrack of Mr X barely has any hummable tune. The portions of invisibility and how Amyra tries to hunt down Mr X are hilarious. Also the logic of him being visible in day light or in neon illumination is hugely unconvincing. The production values look so outdated that it feels the film was stuck in a time capsule for years! I wish the team had looked around and understood the sensibilities of their audience in 2015!
What to do:
Revisit Hollow Man instead and leave Mr X to debut on your TV on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
