Reflecting on the Unsung Heroes. Review on Force 2

A Mumbai Cop becomes a RAW Agent to avenge the death of his best childhood friend – a RAW Agent, who is tainted as a ‘Traitor’.

Sequels in Bollywood seldom meet the expectations of the audience who are taken for a ride by providing a substandard product to cash in the success of its prequel. ‘Force 2’ is not in that league and stands out as one of the best Action Thriller in recent times. Unlike ‘Force’, the prequel which was a remake of a South Indian film, ‘Force 2’ is a fresh script dedicated to the unsung heroes of India who lay down their lives for the country. These include all members of the ‘Force’ related to Police, Army, Navy, Research & Analysis Wing(RAW)… who risk their lives to safeguard the interests of the Country.

Story:  Inspector Yashwardhan – Yash(John Abraham) is heartbroken after his wife’s death but does not give up on his life and is committed to the Police Force. Of the 20 RAW Agents on secret service stationed in China & Hong Kong, 3 are killed. One of them is his best friend who has sent him a classified info that identities of RAW Agents in China are being leaked by someone from the Indian Embassy in Budapest, Hungary. Yash joins the RAW with objective to hunt down the Indian working as a spy for the Chinese Intelligence Agency. Kamaljeet Kaur also known as KK(Sonakshi Sinha) is RAW Incharge of Eastern Europe. Yash and KK are assigned the job and they accompany an Indian Minister as his security, who is on his way to Budapest on an Indo-Hungarian Economic Summit.  Differences arise in the working style of Yash from Mumbai Police who follows Gut Feeling-Aggression-Commonsense against that of KK from RAW who follows Diligence-Homework-Preparation before carrying out a task. While they hunt down Shiv(Raj Bhasin), the Indian Spy for China, 2 more RAW agents are killed in Budapest. Shiv challenges Yash & KK not to debate with him on ‘Deshbhakti’ as they would lose and he is not getting the RAW Agents killed for money. Unable to understand the agenda of Shiv, the duo struggle to make any headway into the investigation and on the contrary they are on the back foot with their every move being tracked and Shiv is always one step ahead.

Cast: Only the characters of John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha and Raj Bhasin were core to the script. Raj Babbar, Genelia D’Souza and Boman Irani have brief but important roles. The entire cast across the board were brilliant and that includes the Chinese and Europeans.

Pros: Script, Direction, Cinematography, Action Choreography, Editing and good background music. The dialogues were well written and effectively delivered by the cast. The fast pace did not leave room for any emotional drama or dance songs which was a pleasant welcome as it would have diluted the plot. The action sequences involving car chase and roof top chase were brilliant. The excellent choice of European and Chinese locations enriched the cinematography.

Cons: Few flaws. At one point when KK informs Yash that only 10 minutes are left for the assassination of RAW Agent, they are swooped upon followed by gun and fist fights. When KK and Yash manage to get in the car KK again informs Yash that only 10 minutes are left before the RAW Agent is killed and they have to hurry.  Yash boasts of capabilities of Mumbai Police but while in Budapest during car chase, none of his umpteen gun shots hit the two baddies on the bike even at short distance while they manage to kill his driver from a distance.

Songs: I could recollect only couple of songs, the first one ‘O Janiya’ appearing only after Interval.  The challenging song ‘Rang Laal’ which appears towards the end during credits provides statistics of the Indians from various services who got killed / laid their lives for the country while some are languishing in foreign jails without hope of returning back to India. Both these songs were inserted in the right places.

Direction: The direction of Abhinay Deo is brilliant and was aptly supported by solid script and talented cast. There was no screen time wasted and the screenplay was crisp, to the point, consistently maintaining the fast pace till the end. The camerawork and editing was praiseworthy.

Conclusion: This no-nonsense fast paced action thriller entertainment spanning around 2 hours 10 minutes is crisp and a must watch. The film falls in the league of ‘Baby’, ‘D-Day’, ‘Madras Cafe’ and the like. The film is dedicated to the Indian heroes who laid their lives for the country and did not receive any recognition. A praiseworthy attempt not to be missed.