Slumdog Millionaire | REVIEW

I've been so busy lately with pending work that I haven't had time to write reviews. Plus WrestleMania 25 is just around the corner so my focus has been on my pro-wrestling-based website, which you can visit here. Anyway, with all the buzz circulating the critically acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire, I thought I might as well review it and put in my 2cents worth. The success of this movie is unprecedented, and as of yesterday it's the winner of a stunning 8 Academy Awards! Wow. And for a movie that almost never got released due to studio conflicts. The tale of the movie Slumdog Millionaire is like a parallel to what happens in the film itself. A basic underdog story.

This Flick Is About...
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Set and filmed in Mumbai, India, Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young man, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and exceeds people's expectations, arousing the suspicions of law enforcement officials. During the interrogation at the poilce station, Jamal goes back into his past and explains how he came to know of the right answers.
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Now, while Slumdog is an incredibly good movie with a nice storyline and just a feel-good aura despite its dark moments, it isn't the greatest movie in the world. I might get crucified for some of my following comments due to the fact that there's an unwritten law now that states nobody should say anything negative about Slumdog Millionaire because it's just not the right thing to do. Heck, even celebrities adore it! John Legend was raving about it, Angelina Jolie said she loved it, and the kids from the flick are now the cutest kids on the planet. Dev Patel is getting contracts shoved in his mailbox and is already slated to play a role in M.Night Shyamalan's Avatar. All good, all good, and well deserving of the lot...but that doesn't mean the movie doesn't have its flaws.

For one, I didn't really quite like some of the acting in the movie, especially that of Madhur Mittal who plays an older Salim, Jamal's brother. Anil Kapoor plays the host of the famous gameshow and does a fantastic job at it. And Dev Patel nails most of his parts.

If there's one thing that stands out in Slumdog, it's the music and the score. I'd say the most deserving winner in this whole gig is composer AR Rahman who wrote the songs and composed the music. The man's a musical genius! His reputation in India (especially South Indian cinema) is off the hook, and he's known there as their most beloved musician to date, and to see him walk on stage and accept a Golden Globe and now two Oscars is really something. The man earned his way up and this is his much deserved mega breakthrough; to be recognized on a global stage for his efforts. Well done, sir!

Speaking of breakthroughs, this is something that director Danny Boyle definitely needs; a clean slate. While he did make some pretty good flicks lately in the form of Sunshine, he also made 28 Days Later. Yikes.

Back to the movie. There's actually three stories at play in the movie; all revolving around Jamal. One tells the story of his past, one of him in police custody, and during his time on the gameshow. The editing is really something and almost seamless. There are no jumpy or choppy scenes which is what I really like. In that respect, the movie is really well done. Another thing I like is the color of the movie. There's an orange tan throughout with some gleams here and there, kind of like Michael Bay lighting with a little of Man On Fire. I'm not sure if I'm getting this through properly, but you'll get it when you watch it. The color tone really suits India. I've been there and the way this movie is set really captures the atmosphere and rush of the country. Speaking of which, there was some controversy that surrounded the title of the movie and how it wrongly depicted India as a slum nation. Well, India is not. It's rapidly developing and I think whoever created said controversy has...

(A) nothing better to do in life
(B) no female companion to spend his free time with
(C) not yet understood the objective of the movie. It's called 'Slumdog Millionaire' for a reason
(D) not yet realized that he's a tool
(E) All of the above

I'd go for (E). Computer has locked in the answer. Patience. And I've just won myself a Million Dollars in cold hard cash!

Anyway, people should be more lighthearted about this stuff.

The thing about Slumdog is that it's been done before. Yeah, that's right. To be honest, there are a lot of South Indian Tamil films and North Indian Hindi movies that depict a somewhat similar plot and have deeper storylines. Slumdog integrates a basic Indian love story with some twists and Western influence, plus the fact that they all speak fluent English halfway through the movie, even amongst family. Don't get me wrong, I know the people of India know to speak excellent English. And there's no reason why a boy from the slums shouldn't be able to learn fluent English...but among brothers, too? It's a bit hard to accept. The flashbacks show the bros speaking in Hindi when all of a sudden they only exchange words in Englsih with each other when they're teens. Seems a bit odd. It would have been better if there was a mix, like their conversations are mostly in Hindi with a bit of English here and there...just among the brothers at least. Would have been more realistic if you ask me.

On a whole, I wasn't thrilled beyond belief by Slumdog Millionaire. I enjoyed it and think it's a beautiful movie and a solid tale of love, affection, and how no one should be underestimated because of their roots. But I don't think it deserved the 10 Oscar nominations and definitely don't see why everyone's raving about it. 5 Oscars, maybe. Oscars for AR Rahman, no questions asked, definitely. In my opinion, Hollywood is in a Bollywood phase right now just like they were in a martial arts phase back in Bruce Lee's time. Plus there's politics and the fact that India's Reliance group has literally pumped billions of USDs into Hollywood's machines. They say there's no creative hold, but who are we to demand real answers, right? I could be wrong and maybe I just don't see what others see, but trust me, 6months down the line there will be a boatload of people who will find all sorts of ridiculous faults with Slumdog just because they want to be unique. In the next 5 years we'll see numerous Hollywood / Bollywood collaborations, some of which are already in the works. Mickey Rourke is set to star in a Bollywood director's project and Amitabh Bachchan is rumored to be in talks to star with Johnny Depp in Shantaram, due in 2011.

All in all, a pretty nice movie and definitely worth the watch. Not the greatest thing in my books but deserving of a few awards and whatever due credit. This is definitely a blessing for India and its filmmakers, some of whom deserve an opening such as this to be able to transcend to global grounds. I just hope we don't see a lot of song / duet sequences in the next Pirates Of The Caribbean. Or worse *gulp* the third Batman flick. Who knows...maybe a Transformers dance sequence with Megan Fox in a Saree, even? Never ever say never, folks.
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Wrap : Slumdog Millionaire gets a 3.9 out of 5.0. Like I said, I was hyped about it yet didn't see what all the craze was about. Nice movie, but not something I haven't seen before. For Hollywood this is unique and something utterly different, yet for the people who have seen Hindi and Tamil cinema, it's kind of the same, minus the songs in the middle. 3.9 it is. Don't kill me, alright? Take it easy.