Captain Miller

Captain Miller Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Dhanush, Shiva Rajkumar, Sundeep Kishan, Priyanka Arul Mohan, Nivedhithaa Sathish

Director: Arun Matheswaran

What’s Good: The struggles during the pre-independence era from the POV of the oppressed class, a deeply-thick-bearded & rocking-a-man-bun Dhanush, G.V. Prakash’s trance-transporting BGM

What’s Bad: Don’t call it a slow burn if things are burning very slowly; call it a very slow burn!

Loo Break: A couple of times, majorly during songs

Watch or Not?: For Dhanush and the world he owns, designed by the visionary Arun Matheswaran

Language: Tamil

Available On: Theatrical Release

Runtime: 2 hours 37 minutes

User Rating:

Set in the pre-Independence era, we have Analeesan, aka Issa, aka Captain Miller’s (Dhanush), who starts his tumultuous journey siding with the British because, he reasons, “Our kings might not give us slippers, but the Britishers are giving us boots.” For him, freedom is respect, and for that, he goes against his revolutionary brother (played by Shiva Rajkumar) and his mother.

On his first mission at his new job as a British soldier, he’s asked to fire at hundreds of Indians protesting against the British & that’s where it hits him. That’s where he decides to use his rechristened name, ‘Captain Miller, ‘ to destroy Britishers with the help of the revolutionaries in his village. But Captain Miller isn’t so simple; he’s twisted just like his fate & you can’t tell whether he’s with you or against you.

Captain Miller Movie Review: Script Analysis

The only question after “Katappa ne Baahubali ko kyon maara?” that needs to be asked ASAP is, “What’s with South Indian filmmakers & their lust to touch the 3-hour mark?” Yes, I totally agree that a filmmaker is a world-builder, but would you want to live in a world that takes a little too much time to get to even get to the basic things? It gets a little boring. But what a world Arun Matheswaran has built! Because he couldn’t make a film on the real-life Tamil Eelam liberation struggle stories as it would’ve been ‘too controversial,’ he decides to paint his world in which the insane bravery of a traitor turned revolutionary would be questioned.

Siddhartha Nuni’s cinematography doesn’t match the unparalleled vision Arun Matheswaran sets with his direction and screenplay (with Madhan Karky). Just like Sonchiriya, you can feel the rawness through the ultra-realistic setup of the story. Just like Kantara, the village is a character in itself that you connect with owing to the in-depth explanation of its cultural significance.

Captain Miller Movie Review: Star Performance

There are some roles that you think about & immediately can say *this xyz actor would be perfect to play this character.” & Captain Miller is one of the many for Dhanush. He performs like he was born to play Captain Miller. The pace results in a few dips in his character arc graph, but he overcomes every shortcoming by acting his heart out.

Shiva Rajkumar‘s cameo is not as good as Jailer‘s, but it has enough meat to let you marvel at it. Priyanka Arul Mohan & Nivedhithaa Sathish blaze the screen up with their presence but unfortunately don’t get any scene for which they’ll be remembered.