'Ra.One' - Movie Review

The movie opens with an introduction to a new technology that allows wireless transmissions to shape images and objects in the real world. This is followed by an introduction to Shekhar Subramanium (Shah Rukh Khan, one of India's best known movie stars), a game designer for the same company. It's quickly established that he's well meaning, goofy, accident-prone, very smart, very embarrassing to his son, and married to the stunning Sofia (Kareena Kapoor) - they're very much in love. To impress his son, he designs a new game with an almost entirely undefeatable villain, because his son thinks villains are cool. The villain escapes the game using the new wireless-to-object technology, and suddenly the young son must embrace his father's simple beliefs in heroes and goodness to defeat the villain with the help of the game's hero (G.One, also played by Khan) who is also made to manifest in the real world.

This is classic Bollywood, with the inclusion of several elaborate song-and-dance numbers, morality lessons, and over-the-top tragedy and farce. More correctly, the tragedy isn't over-the-top, but it definitely felt out of place to me when mixed with the level of humour and absurdity that the movie brings to the table.

It was interesting seeing a non-American take on superheroes, but I didn't fall in love with the movie.