Visually striking action drama is a missed opportunity

THE Telugu language action thriller had a recent Netflix premiere, after a limited cinema run.

The story revolves around a mentally scared Interpol agent, with anger management issues, who leaves his love interest after a traumatic incident. He gets a call from his estranged sister for help after she, along with her daughter, receives death threats. He agrees to protect them and what follows is a bigger conspiracy, which reconnects to his troubled past. It also unleashes his violent side.

A movie that must have seemed like a good idea on paper gradually falls apart after a strong start, as the plot becomes predictable and begins to unravel. What follows is a series of violent scenes that are broken up with failed attempts to add some emotional intensity. The overly long story attempts to cram into too many plot points, and this might have worked in the 1970s or 1980s, but not with modern-day audiences. It becomes overly burdened and eventually turns it into a fractured mess. Those who are fans of action movies will see plenty of ideas that seem to have been borrowed from much better movies.

The caricature-like villain not being too believable works against this movie.

Fans of Nagarjuna will take most away from The Ghost because he does have solid screen presence and is particularly great in the well-choreographed action scenes. There was also a great opportunity to take a deeper dive into the story angle of his love interest also being a lethal killing machine.

Other cast members are decent enough in their respective roles, but they are overshadowed by the legendary actor. Better writing could have turned this visually striking movie into a great thriller, instead of being a big, missed opportunity. Unfortunately, it doesn’t match up to the high-powered trailer, strong protagonist, and interesting title.