Game Changer movie review: Shankar plays the same old game

A still from Game Changer

Game Changer
U/A: Action, thriller
Dir: S Shankar
Cast: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, SJ Suryah
Rating: 2/5

That's some love filmmaker S Shankar has for a saviour hero. He doubles up as a government servant and an action star, and preaches about law and order while always taking law in his hands. This is about his latest big-screen outing, Game Changer, but also holds true for several other titles in his filmography. So, what changes with the new film? Just the lead faces, honestly.

Ram Charan is the flag bearer of Shankar's idea of patriotism and governance in the political actioner. For the two-hours and 45-minutes of the film, Charan's IAS officer, Ram, is a one-man army wiping corruption out of his district, performing death-defying stunts and when he gets a few minutes in between, romancing his girlfriend, Deepika, played by Kiara Advani. That also sums up Advani's role and screen time in the film.

There's no harm in repeating a trope or a story. But it's concerning when the treatment gets so predictable that one becomes indifferent to what's playing in front of them. Game Changer has everything, except an emotional appeal that makes one forget any number of flaws a film might have. It is not unwatchable, but its dated storytelling keeps one detached through the entire duration. Jarring jumps from scene to scene, loud and exaggerated performances, poor Hindi dubbing, and zero nuances in sight don't help either.

Shankar's films are also known for the spectacularly shot songs on the biggest scale possible. On that front, Game Changer doesn't disappoint. All the four songs in the film are breathtakingly visualised, exploiting the potential of a big screen experience. The imagination, the colours and the different looks that Charan and Advani sport in the songs are witness to Shankar's expertise on song picturisation. One just wishes he put the same imagination to use while developing the rest of the film.