Despite a famous plot line, PS Mithran’s Sardar is a skillfully produced spy film that manages to hold our attention until the end. The director successfully incorporates a message about the value of protecting our water resources and opposing their appropriation by the business sector, much like he did with his Irumbuthirai, without coming off as preachy. We experience an information overload, similar to the director’s previous works, which aids in the story’s granularity.
Additionally, Mithran provides his protagonist with a number of heroic moments that feel natural rather than forced, as is frequently the case. At the same time, Sardar is not ashamed to be a star vehicle, and Karthi gives a strong performance as a spy who will do everything it takes to defend the integrity of his country and as a son who is haunted by the actions of his father. All of the supporting characters serve a purpose and are primarily used to advance the plot, but Mithran somehow makes them feel essential to the story even though, as characters, they are archetypes: the romantic interest who aids the protagonist in his research; the kind-hearted guardian; a child who gives the protagonist’s mission an emotional motivation; and so on.
If there is a flaw, it is that the movie never engages our hearts as much as it engages our minds. The betrayal of a character never makes us angry. When a mass murder occurs, we never experience sadness. And when a character is introduced to a large audience, we are never as thrilled as we ought to be. Additionally, while being an action movie, the stunts are mainly cliched, and drawn out, and do not deliver the surge of excitement we expect from such situations.
