First addressing the people interested in slamming it down due to its avoidable minuses, yes the film defies all logics as always seen in a typical Hindi film aiming at entertaining its larger section of viewers, ignoring the others. It doesn't offer any fresh or unpredictable storyline taking the easy path. Has a longer length with few unwanted scenes and mediocre songs thrown in uselessly hindering its otherwise likable progression. Takes too long to come to its actual story plot. Has few close resemblances to films like THE GENTLEMAN, KRISHH and DHOOM, whereas is yet another remake of a South hit with the same title KICK (Telugu) released in 2009. And needless to say has Salman Khan in almost every frame of the film right till its last minute as desired by his die-hard fans who have fondly given him the title of BHAI.
But having said that, KICK still cannot be rated as anything bad or ridiculous despite having all the above mentioned hiccups in its around 145 minutes of duration. And the reason behind this contradiction is that the film does have a breezy entertaining feel maintained till its impressive climax, has few enjoyable sequences coming in at regular intervals performed well by all the known faces and it holds you on firmly through some superbly written dialogues by Rajat Aroraa.
To give you a fair idea, KICK has no cheap sequences, objectionable lines or cheeky avoidable humour as seen in many of Salman's recent films including JAI HO. It doesn't drag after a while and keeps progressing at a brisk pace, though having all those unwanted songs and sequences adding to its extra length. It doesn't go into that silly & boring 'Love Angle' mode as the latest sequels of KRRISH and DHOOM do. Keeps the much needed fun element intact even till its finale leaving you with all positive vibes. And more importantly this is one of those rare films where Salman Khan doesn't take off his shirt in any of his last minute fights breaking his own set norm religiously followed in the last few years.
Besides where Salman successfully manages to keep you hooked in the first half along with Randeep Hooda & Jacquelin, there Nawazzudin Siddiqui comes in to provide his big noteworthy support post intermission keeping the energy going. And saying the bitter truth, both Randeep and Nawazuddin frankly can be called the second source of oxygen to this latest Salman Khan movie made on a weak premise. In addition, KICK also gets some valuable strength from its entertaining supporting acts led by Sanjay Mishra in his only scene at the Police Station, Mithun Chakraborty as the spirited father, Saurabh Shukla as the girl's pa, Archana Puransingh in her one scene playing the loud mother, Kavin Dave-Sumona in the film's opening chase sequence and Vipin Sharma as the enjoyable, annoyed minister towards the end.
Plus two other thankful saviors of KICK are that this time the lead actress doesn't tease you at all due to her calm & pleasing appearance (ignoring her diction) and the lead actor i.e. Salman doesn't look like an arrogant, over confident star performing the role at his own will, ignoring any specific demand of his actual character written in the script. In other words KICK has the Salman Khan we saw in WANTED & DABANGG, but not the one witnessed in READY, BODYGUARD, EK THA TIGER or DABANGG 2 to be precise.
Moreover it's the unexpectedly surprising debut achievement by the director-producer Sajid Nadiadwala which simply makes you think that why Sajid didn't opt for direction in all these years for any of Salman's film, since he has actually managed to deliver a much better product than many renowned directors of the industry, unarguably. Anyway a good start has been made with a bang and I hope he will give us much better films in the future which would ideally be based on some original scripts and not just be the routine remakes of the south following the easier path. Interestingly one fight sequence in its first half has been straight away taken from Prakash Mehra - Amitabh Bachchan's SHARAABI released in 1984. And I would really like to know that whether it was unintentional or Sajid actually wished to pay a tribute to the master film-maker in his very first venture.
Coming back to KICK, cinematography & action gives an international look to the film, especially post intermission in its actions sequences and background score keeps the tempo high as required. Sadly the soundtrack remains the weakest link of the film once again and one or two catchy hit songs could have easily taken the project to another level altogether. Here the point to be noted is that the original Telugu movie does have few melodious upbeat tracks composed well. So I wonder why they didn't go for the official rights of those songs only, following the ROWDY RATHORE route playing it safe.
Now apart from the commercial aspect, the one thing I would personally like to appreciate here is that since his last two attempts, Salman is trying to give a social message through his films fulfilling his moral responsibility towards the people being their loving celebrity. Unfortunately he failed to give that message impressively in JAI HO but has once again tried to do the same in KICK. And I hope this time the message reaches the maximum, encouraging them all to find their individual KICK of life, before the time is over.
Summing up, I would like to rate KICK as a much better movie than KRRISH 3, DHOOM 3 or even EK THA TIGER in terms of entertainment. So Salman is definitely here to get a bigger Iddi this festive season along with Randeep and Nawazuddin loudly claiming their respective shares too.
