As anticipated, Nelson succumbs to the star tropes of Thalapathy Vijay, failing to come up with a script that'd even keep viewers mildly interested. In fact, the opening act is the only decent stretch in the entire film. Everything from PTSD therapy to terrorism to women's looks is shamed to the core. The mass elevations are zilch, and Veeraraghavan's awkward stiffness doesn't work here at all. It's like Nelson literally planted Vijay in a Doctor-like universe where everything including a hostage situation is treated too lightly, terrorists act like caricatures, there's a buffoon for a home minister, and the supposed humour doesn't function one bit. The writing lazily imagines Vijay shooting and stabbing his way through dozens of baddies for nearly three hours, with an uber-cute Pooja Hedge hot on his trail for no legitimate reason whatsoever. Anirudh delivers on the musical front, but in a film where nothing really sticks, it'll hardly be remembered. Nelson needs to rework his formula that worked pretty well in his first two films - the secret sauce (dark comedy + hilarious supporting acts) is terribly lacking in Beast. And oh, that dreadful climactic stretch.. nail in the coffin!
