Movie Review: RRR (2022)

RRR (2022) directed by S. S. Rajamouli

In the early 1900s, British military leader Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his wife (Alison Doody) take a young girl from an isolated village. They basically want the girl as a house pet, to sing and paint the wife's hands with elaborate pictures. The villagers can't put up a fight but Komaram Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.) promises to bring the child back from Delhi. He goes to the big city, fighting the British and a bunch of jungle creatures on his way. Once there, Bheem tries to come up with a scheme to bust the girl out of the leader's fortified headquarters. At this point, he's a wanted man because of his adventures in the jungle and because the British know he's coming for the girl.

Maybe a decade earlier in another part of India, Rama Raju (Ram Charan) sees his village attacked and loses many friends and family. As an adult, he vows to arm everyone who will fight against the English. He leaves a girlfriend (Alia Bhatt) in the village as he goes to Delhi where he begins a career in the English army, trying to rise through the ranks until he gets access to what he needs. He's an amazing officer though is often passed over for promotion because he's Indian. He has the chance to get a big promotion if he can bring in Bheem.

As luck would have it, they are both in the area and are traveling incognito (Rama is trying to infiltrate the rebels) when a kid is in peril. They work together to save the child in an amazing, over-the-top sequence. There's already been plenty of over-the-top scenes (Rajamouli is the guy who directed Baahubhali) so it does not seem out of place. The guys who should be enemies become friends, creating a lot of tension in the story. In the bigger picture, they should be friends because they both want to get out from under the heel of the British, who are about as dastardly as you can get in this film, except for the one lady who is the love interest for Bheem. Rama and Bheem flip from being brothers to being enemies a few times.

The movie is chock full of amazing, unbelievable actions sequences that are so well filmed and put together that I went with the implausibility. The scenes are so much fun. As an Indian film, plenty of dance sequences and songs are added. The film ends with a big song and dance number that pays tribute to the Indian revolutionaries who got the British out in the early 1900s. The film is joyous and delightful. There are some gruesome bits of torture and injury, so the film is not for the pre-teen crowd. If you are old enough, this is a very entertaining film.

Recommended.