‘Jailer 2’ movie review: Rajinikanth’s flourishes elevate Nelson’s rousing herogasm

Over the last two decades, numerous filmmakers have attempted to make the defining superstar film. While 2010s films, like Petta, celebrated Rajinikanth in all his glory, the demands of the pan-Indian cinema market and a more action-weary, fidgety audience in the post-streaming era have reshaped what makes a quintessential Rajini film in the 2020s. Director Nelson’s 2023 hit Jailer understood that formula (even if it was far from perfect) so intrinsically that it wouldn’t be far-fetched to call this style of mass masala filmmaking a definitive sub-genre tailored for its larger-than-life superstar.

The allure of the first Jailer film might seem straightforward at first — it had a Baashha-esque no-frills plotline peppered with fan service and cameos from stars across the Indian film industry. But what truly worked in its favour was how on-brand it was for Nelson; other than banking on the dark humour he is known for (and Breaking Bad-inspired ideas), Jailer was a pitch-perfect union of Nelson’s penchant for underplaying the protagonist and modern-day Rajinism, which requires sober storytelling and verisimilitude. All shenanigans transpire only around the titular Jailer, Tiger Muthuvel Pandian. While Rajini thrives in narratively earned moments of heroism, the villains and secondary characters do much of the heavy lifting, both in narrative and in mass elevation.

In Jailer 2, Nelson almost perfects this masala cinema formula. The prescription once again has invisible snipers punctuating the screen on cue like a well-placed Anirudh Ravichander motif, crowds of henchmen getting reduced to a pool of flesh and blood in minutes, and amidst all of that, Tiger Muthuvel Pandian going about his life as if he isn’t the man who is already plotting Plan Z. And Nelson doesn’t wish to hide that he’s working with the template — the sequel begins with a carbon-copy scene that kickstarted the first film. Dhileep (Suraj Venjramoodu), furious that he is unable to find the man who murdered his friend Varman (Vinayakan; the character died at the end of Jailer), tortures and kills his own men for their incompetence. Of course, a bigger whale, Bodhi Kalpak (SJ Suryah), is breathing down Dhileep’s neck to get the job done.

Meanwhile, our man-with-a-past lives a quiet life in a hillside town with his wife (Ramya Krishnan), their grandson Rithvik and their daughter-in-law (Mirnaa Menon). A chance encounter with a local municipality officer cascades into trouble, which is when you realise that Dhileep wasn’t the one searching for Jailer; Jailer had been fishing for the statue-smuggling syndicate all along.

Jailer 2 (Tamil)

Director: Nelson