By Vivek Ramz

Billa II finally released after a long delay. The film created a huge buzz as it is India's first prequel to the blockbuster hit Billa, which is remake of Hindi film, the Amitabh Bachchan classic 'Don'. Billa 2 has an all-new team from the previous film except the charismatic actor Ajith Kumar and the young music sensation, Yuvan Shankar Raja. Also, the film made headlines as it is one of the very few films which made profit even before post production. So, has the film delivered going by the tremendous expectations riding on it? Read on!

What's it about?

The story is very simple. It's all about how an ordinary guy-next-door becomes the most dreaded underworld don. The opening fight sequence is well choreographed and acts as a perfect setting for an all-out action flick. Billa (Ajith Kumar), a refugee from Sri Lanka comes to Tamil Nadu and lives in a coastal area. He had a fight with the local police and gets arrested in a diamond smuggling case. He along with his friend Ranjith (Yog Japee) manages to get out of the legal wrangles. They both go to Annachi (Ilavarasu) and from then on, its no turning back for both of them. Meanwhile, Billa has a soft corner for his cousin Jasmine (Parvathy Omanakkutan) and takes care of her after his sister's death. Then, he moves to Goa and joins with underworld businessman Abbasi (Sudhanshu Pandey) starts an illegal business. He gets to meet Dimitri (Vidyut Jamwal) the arms dealer from Boravia and he starts taking an interest in the arms business. This irks Abbasi, they split and go in their own ways. The rest of the story is about how Billa handles Dimitri and becomes the King of underworld by showing no mercy and killing all the people who cross his path.

David Billa aims for the sky, he will do anything for the people who trust him but won't think twice to kill anyone who cheats him. His character has been beautifully etched but the same cannot be said about the villains Abbasi and Dimitri. For any larger-than-life hero film, the villain's role should be as powerful as hero to run the show. But the script writers, the trio of Chakri Toleti, Eric felberg and Sarath Mandava fail in that department. So the screenplay lack depth, particularly in the second half.

Ajith Kumar's physique didn't suit the angry young man David but his body language and ferocious expressions are perfect to the T as the deadly Don. It's a one man show and his screen presence has completely overshadowed the rest. The rest of the cast mostly go unnoticed with only Sudhanshu Pandey being an exception. He has made his presence felt even in the very few scenes as a cunning businessman. The female leads of Parvathy and Bruna Abdullah didn't impress and Rahman, who is there in the first film comes in for a cameo.

The film's strength lies in the stylish treatment and rich production values. Director Chakri Toleti has give more focus on the presentation rather than the content. The visuals of “Unakkulae Mirugam” is astonishing. The dialogues written by Era Murugan and Jaffer Mohammed are sharp and almost all the one-liners mouthed by Ajith are received with thunderous applause.

Technically, the film is outstanding with rich production values. Cinematography by R D Rajasekhar is top class as each and every scene is brought out with amazing clarity with the red epic camera. Though the songs are not upto the mark, the background score is simply brilliant. It is in perfect sync with the action sequences and has a great effect on big screen. Editing by Suresh Urs is neat which results in a slick flick with running time of just above two hours.

What to do?

It is a one time watch for ordinary movie goers. For all 'Thala' fans and action lovers out there, it's sure a treat with some amazing stunts and adrenalin pumping sequences.

In.com rating - 3/5