The recent installment of HIT franchise, HIT: The Third Case makes it more action filled and expands the universe’s boundary. The earlier two HIT movies primarily take place in Visakhapatnam, HIT 3 goes to all stretch of India from Jaipur, Bihar to a small sequence in Kashmir and a grand final act in Arunachal Pradesh.
Sailesh Kolanu has done a good job casting Nani as Arjun Sarkaar who is dealing with a midlife crisis, an on edge but witty relation with his father and multiple rejections in his love life. Nani’s portrayal of Arjun is as good as the Keanu Reeves’s John Wick. The protagonist a very layered personality which unfolds as the movie progresses. Initially Arjun is shown as a weird angry cop who has no control on his anger, but later the director and screenplay writer puts him in the shoes of a modern day hero who has a very different approach to solving problems.
It is no shock that Nani’s acting is a one man show, but the inclusion of Srinidhi Shetty’s Mridula gives it a different color. Though her role is not as prominent as it should be, her acting is making us fall in love with the character. Apart form Nani’s and somewhat Srinidhi’s character only the primary antagonist Prateik Babbar as Alpha shines in the movie. However, his role requires a much darker approach than Prateik has taken to portray an antagonist who is ready to sacrifice a 9-month baby in the name of freedom.
The story has a rough flow- from dark thriller to beautiful love songs to witty jokes to again dark thriller- which makes it bumpy with some good punches and even more powerful kicks. And the knife attacks make up for it.
Sanu John Varghese’s cinematography is marvelous from wide angle shots to shots that introduces a character, everything fits right to feel the story. The action in HIT 3 gets exponentially high by each passing second starting from cutting the jugular vein to slicing a person into RHS=LHS type half.
In the final act as shown in the trailer Arjun wore a wHITe suit which gets bloody is a very good depiction of the finale and the insanity meter of Arjun. Each knife HIT, kill, breaking of bones or amputation of limbs seems satisfying because of the background score by Mickey J Meyer.
Aside from Arjun’s and action sequence background score the movie lacks a different darker music for the main antagonist like Lokesh Kanagaraj’s ‘Vikram’ has for each of its important characters.
The story has a grappling hook from the beginning which keeps us excited about what will happen in the next scene with plot twists and character’s past as a cherry on the top.
But there are some flaws in the movie like Arjun does give credit when her subordinate female cop finds a lead in the case, but in the dating scene he is shown as a sexist, objectifying woman while going to a coffee which does not add equally. He is shown as an impeccable cop with a very good memory but he is unable to identify a lady cop who he himself trained and even helped her sister with. The action is kept at a realistic pace but sometimes the action goes all the way like flying cars in a Rishabh Shetty’s movie but the difference is humans get flown rather than cars. Pets are also portrayed as a helping cop, although short but gives it a John Wick flavor in which the dogs are shown as a fully reliable companion.
HIT 3 is full of blood and gore and it will be a sin if we do not compare it with the allegedly acclaimed Marco (the most violent movie in Indian history) which is a revenge saga of Marco (the protagonist). While Marco has a dark and gritty tone, HIT 3 has a much lighter tone. The protagonist in HIT 3 has a purpose of killing. We can feel that he is doing the right thing while in Marco, he goes all nuts and just starts killing everyone. We do not feel the same satisfaction when we see a kill in the movie.
Although the points for more amputation and different background score gives a point to Marco, a weak storyline makes HIT 3 a better choice. There is also one major difference in both the movies. HIT 3, while portraying police as a force that goes all out in the name of justice but still does not kill any children or women in a very brutal way, while in the house sequence of Macro- it makes the audience question reality and makes them throw out. Many of the audience even said that is the most unique scene in a movie.
HIT: The Third Act hits hard as an action thriller with Nani’s phenomenal acting and compelling twists with great cinematography and a good music design. It is a good entertainer which gives a somewhat fresh story including drugs, dark net, etc. but the not so good character development of other characters stops it from being a top-notch drama.
