Its cool dude!. Review on Zinda

Zinda is more concerned with looking cool than applying any sense of depth to a character. Being imprisoned for 14 years in such a condition has to be very harsh for Sanjay, but the viewer needs to feel imprisoned with him for the right effect. Years go by in only a matter of minutes as we see a montage of events on television from over the years. And Sanjay gets released from the apartment by the end of the first reel which leaves very little time to get caught up in his situation.

I realize this film wasn’t trying to be the next Shawshank Redemption in keeping us imprisoned for 90% of the story, but there’s still not much behind its story arc.

Zinda plays a little like Memento in terms of mystery, but that film was very smart by telling the story backwards clip by clip, rather than in continuity, which forced the viewer to keep up.The framework in Zinda is fairly ok and relies on whether or not the apartment worked for you – if you don't ''buy'' it, chances are the rest of the film will be boring. And when pieces eventually add up, the twist is more ridiculous than surprising .

The film has twisted layers, including torture and brutal fights but the characters don’t have enough backbone. Torture scenes just seem to happen for the sake of shock and brutality, and they don’t have an emotional resonance.

And the one big fight sequence that is supposed to leave us cheering lacks intensity, as there’s only one static camera angle that doesn’t allow us to get in on the fight. I can’t say that I was surprised by my mixed reaction to the film.

I was actually expecting more of an action movie than a revenge thriller – but even so, I tend to think imported action movies [old boy in this case]can be terrible.

The direction isn’t over the top like many of those flicks and the script is a lot better, but the storytelling still suffers.

But considering my track record with this genre, I may not be the best judge. Zinda is mostly recommended for film buffs who like their flicks stylish and dark, but will likely leave many others asking for the door a third of the way through.