Phantom reminds me as thousands more, I am sure, of Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks. Well, Saif is no Ghost Who Walks. On the contrary he walks in full glare to avenge the deaths of the 160 odd killed in that heinous attack.
Phantom is the latest addition to the new propaganda pieces created by Bollywood to boost the audience confidence in the Indian intelligence services.
A dishonorably discharged Army officer, living away from the society, sought by the intelligence bosses for a super covert mission instantly reminds of Rambo II. But I will say that the story writer and the director have taken efforts to make sure that there are no obvious logical flaws in the movie.
Saif Ali Khan (Daniyal Khan) gets back in his Agent Vinod avatar to take on India’s enemy. He is aided by a trusted ex-RAW agent in London to take his mission forward and bring all those involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks to justice.
The movie builds the momentum quite well in the first half, but loses this tension in the beginning of the second half. Although most of the plans work as scripted (implying no tension), the movie succeeds in creating some intense moments by throwing momentary obstacles during crucial moments, only toward the end of the movie.
The few songs in the movie do not demand a lot of attention or encroach upon the story. You will not find the tunes distracting or out of place. Other than few instances of spoon feeding what happened in the story, the movie progresses at a steady pace.
The movie succeeds in raising the required emotional response – complete with If US can, Why can’t India rhetoric (really?)- and we also had some applause on completing the mission. But the one-man-show approach is a bit difficult to digest as Daniyal Khan traverses countries and eludes officials with the same face.
Is it entertaining? Sure. It is not a complete disaster like the Welcome to Karachi, but neither does it hold the audience like Drishyam.