Mark Antony Movie Review: SJ Suryah's Enjoyably Hammy Dual Performance is a Redeeming Highlight of Vishal's Time-Travelling Entertainer (LatestLY Exclusive)

Mark Antony Movie Review: Manipulating time as a plot element is not a novel concept in Tamil Cinema. Films like Suriya's 24 and Vishnu Vishal's Indru Netru Naalai have explored the idea of traveling back and forth in time, while STR's Maanaadu delved into the concept of a time loop. Interestingly, SJ Suryah, who played the antagonist in Maanaadu, is also part of the most recent film to tackle time manipulation, which is this week's Mark Antony, written and directed by Adhik Ravichandran. And believe it or not, once again, the former director of films like Kushi and Vaalee has turned out to be the most entertaining part of the movie. Mark Antony Movie Review: Vishal and SJ Suryah's Time Travel Film Is 'Blockbuster', Per Netizens.

Mark Antony isn't exactly about time travel; instead, it revolves around communicating with the past through a telephone. The film that came to mind when I encountered this plot was the 2000 film Frequency, where Jim Caviezel's character communicates with his deceased father, played by Dennis Quaid, in the past through a ham radio, attempting to prevent his father's death when it's destined to occur in the past. Mark Antony follows a similar premise, except it uses a telephone, and the tone is more comical than that of a serious thriller.

The story begins in 1975 when a scientist (Selvaraghavan) invents a telephone that allows communication with someone in the past. There are some conditions, though, such as levitating in the air the first time you make a call and being limited to dialing a number once per day, with the need to wait until the next day to try that number again.

Without revealing too much, we are then transported to 1995, where we meet Mark Antony (Vishal Krishna), a mechanic and the foster son of Royapuram's don, Jack Pandian (SJ Suryah). Jack favours Mark over his own elder son, Madhan (also Suryah), a wannabe gangster, because Mark is the orphaned child of his slain best friend, Antony (also Vishal). Mark doesn't wish to follow in his father's footsteps, who is described as a despicable criminal when he was alive, but his father's legacy continues to haunt him and nearly ruins his love life.

It's at this point that Mark stumbles upon the time-traveling telephone by accident. Once he discovers its capabilities, he decides to call back in time to confront his father. However, what transpires next makes Mark realise that what he thought he knew about his father doesn't align with the actual events that unfolded.

Watch the Trailer of Mark Antony:

Despite the inspired premise, I must admit that I was drawn in by how Mark Antony's screenplay aims to take this plot in some unexpected directions. The 1970s and 1990s settings provide a visual aesthetic, and the intentionally exaggerated character portrayals contribute to the film's quirkiness. However, not everything in this cinematic journey is flawless.

Mark Antony starts strongly with its time-travel setup, Antony's fate, and character introductions. Nevertheless, despite the narrative's interesting start, the film loses some of its initial momentum moving ahead, with the director compensating for the lack of meat in story-telling with onscreen madness and relying on SJ Suryah's double act to sail things through. It doesn't help when Vishal is just about okay as the meek Mark Antony, while his romantic track with Ritu Varma only passes muster. Mark Antony: Madras HC Permits Release of Vishal-Starrer, Actor Confirms ‘Stay Vacated’.

It's only near the interval that Mark Antony regains some momentum when Mark discovers the phone and alters a couple of significant events in the past. In the second half, the film seems to borrow a page from Maanaadu by focusing more on SJ Suryah's dual characters, a clever move as the actor's eccentric and over-the-top performance significantly enhances the proceedings.

However, the screenplay falls short of the cleverness it should have exhibited. The use of the "butterfly effect" in driving the film's twists appears more as a convenient plot device rather than a well-thought-out concept (a similar issue I had with Frequency). The film expects viewers to believe that small changes in the past are inconsequential, while major changes bring about drastic transformations in the future, which doesn't hold true. While I understand that I shouldn't expect Christopher Nolan-level intricacy in a masala film like Mark Antony, films like 24 and Maanaadu managed to be smarter in their storytelling. Additionally, some of the twists are weakly executed, and the film could have used more thrills. The action scenes are quite decent, while GV Prakash's BG score is fabulous.

The much-discussed 'Silk' scene is undoubtedly the highlight of the second half, but I found it in poor taste, considering how it deals with the 'sex symbol' image of the late actress, a factor allegedly linked to her tragic suicide. The climax further escalates the craziness, with SJ Suryah once again stepping in to divert attention from certain plot inconsistencies (like randomly choosing which characters should remember the change in the past when the future transforms). A couple of songs could have been omitted to maintain a steady pace. Mark Antony Trailer: Not AI! Vishnu Priya Gandhi Recreated 'Silk Smitha' in Vishal-SJ Suryah's Film, Popular Instagrammer Confirms!

Regarding the performances, there's no denying that Mark Antony heavily relies on SJ Suryah to carry the film, and the actor delivers with gusto. His hammy dual performance seamlessly fits into the film's loud and energetic atmosphere. The 'time travel' conversations between Madhan and Jack are sure to have you in stitches. What's more the film adds some nice meta gags about the films he made, though the Vaalee joke doesn't make sense since Mark Antony is set in 1995 and Vaalee comes four years later.

As for Vishal, he fares better as Antony than as the naive Mark Antony, appearing more suited to the role of the misremembered gangster. There's an interesting twist to his character's appearance in the climax, but in my humble opinion, his performance in that portion felt forced. Ritu Varma, unfortunately, has limited scope as a performer. Among the supporting cast, Suneel leaves a good impression, while Kingsley maintains his usual loud presence.

Final Thoughts

Mark Antony has its fun, bombastic moments that would appeal to the masses, though its screenplay deserved a lot of smarter tweaking with the kind of ambitious story-telling it attempts to say. More than the time-travel aspect which is certainly intriguing, it is SJ Suryah's electrifying dual performance that infuses the narrative with the energy it needs, and makes Mark Antony worth a watch.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 15, 2023 02:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).