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*may contain spoilers*

Phew, I needed that! Round after round of serious drama has made it's way onto my DVD player, so I was beside myself after watching this movie - a movie with plenty of vigor, sex appeal beyond what any mere mortal should be exposed to and the finest action sequences I've seen from a Hindi film yet. Right from it's opening sequence, Sanjay Gadhvi has directed a film that you know is going to be much more than a standard cops-n-robbers movie. This film is loaded with style, smarts and humor. Dhoom 2 is chalk full of beautiful locations (can someone just move to Copacabana, which, until now I thought was just a Barry Manilow song), state of the art gadgetry usually reserved for the likes of James Bond and stunts that are perfectly executed (sand surfing anyone?). It certianly is a thrill ride from the word go and I loved it!

Hrithik's character Aryan is extremely intelligent and suave beyond belief - comparable to Pierce Brosnan's Thomas Crown or Val Kilmer's Simon Templar (though Simon Templar's disguises were MUCH better). I remember posting a while back that the more I see Hrithik, the more I enjoy him, and this movie did it for me. The man can certainly dance and he pulls off the loverboy image with as much aplomb as Shah Rukh, but I wonder if he'll hold up to the testament of time or if his pretty boy image and his rock hard abs will slowly fade away with age. Well, no matter, even as the so-called villain, Hrithik ruled this movie much to the chagrin of Abhishek, whose role was completely overshadowed. The only thing that bothered me about his character, and this is due to lack of story rather than acting ability, is that the movie fails to produce any kind of motivation for Aryan's chosen career path. Also we are supposed to believe without question when he gives it all up so suddenly and without relapse.


Abhishek Bachchan plays Jai (a reprisal from the first Dhoom, which I haven't seen), the hero cop very solemnly and soberly. His is a role that seems to be reduced to a mere supporting player. Why is he after this "A" with such vigor? Are there implications we don't get to see in this case, and what of his pregnant wife at home (I think I forgot he was married by interval). Bipasha Basu is smoldering as the tough lady cop, but her character Shonali is disappointingly and inexplicably dropped at the interval point in which another character, an identical twin called Monali, is introduced. Both Shonali and Monali have little significance to the movie’s story.


There's no doubt that Aishwarya Rai is one hot lady with legs that any woman would die for. Though no one should be allowed to refer to themselves in third person and get away with it, I definitely felt the chemistry between Sunehri and Aryan (the revolver scene with the kiss was one of the most intense I've ever seen in a Bollywood movie. Hot stuff!). I haven't seen Aish in much else, but she pulls off the role of girl caught in the middle convincingly enough even if I somehow sense that this bad girl image is somewhat forced. If anything else, her moves in 'Crazy Kiya Re' are worth emulating. I've heard nothing but bad things about Uday Chopra, but as the sidekick who wears his heart on his sleeve, he manages to raise a few laughs, even if the jokes tend to become a little too repetitive and you feel like he's got way too much screen-time than his character deserves.


As for the music, I thought that each of the tracks were likable in their own way, though I was way to distracted by Uday's disjointed and jerky dancing in 'My Name is Ali' to appreciate that one. Most memorable for me were the title song 'Dhoom Again' and 'Dil Laga Na', but that may be due more to the dancing than the music and lyrics.





So, a big round of applause to Sanjay Gadhvi for giving us a shiny bright action packaged present. Now, next time, he just needs to pay greater attention to the story.