Shiva (Mahesh Babu) works in IB departments surveillance department, he is not an officer but his aim is to nab criminals before they indulge in crimes. His nature of job is to spy on criminals and counter terrorist activities. He is quite effective in handling counter activities with his specially developed software.
A call leads him to a medical student (Rakul Preet Singh) who wants to go on a blind date with a guy. As their romantic track goes on, he comes to know about a serial killer Bhairavudu (S J Surya) who has been killing people since long time.
While searching for Bhairavudu, he gets in touch with his brother and then finally reaches Bhairavudu. But the ruthless serial killer plans bombing a hospital. How Shiva unfoils his mission?
Analysis:-
In his long career, director A R Murugadoss has made mainly two kind of movies 1. message oriented films (Ramana, Stalin, 7th Sense) 2. stylish action thrillers (Ghazini, Thuppaki, etc). His latest Spyder falls in the latter category.
In each of his movies, he touches upon a new topic and here he has used governments surveillance activities and the growing inhuman feelings among the general public. The film begins as an action thriller.
Hero gets introduced as an IT guy coming to the IB department as he is passionate about countering crime.
After establishing Mahesh Babus nature of job neatly, the film proceeds in a predictable manner in dealing with romantic episodes but it turns into serious mode again after the death of a girl and a constable.
Hero realising that a serial killer is on the loose and coming to know the identity of Bhairavudu is well established. From this point till the interval, the film goes on in a racy manner and keeps the audiences glued to the seats.
The entire sequence of Mahesh Babu going to the village of Bhairavudu and getting to know the childhood story of Bhairavudu is told in highly engaging manner. This is stamp of Murugadoss.
By interval, we come to the face off between Mahesh Babu and S J Surya, the officer and serial killer. This is staged in a wonderful way. Despite some routine romantic track and familiar family episodes, the first half of the movie is well told.
Once the identity of the villain is established and his motives are made clear, there is not much plot to be explored. Here, Murugadoss falters completely. He loses complete grip on narrating the second half.
How Mahesh Babu captures this ruthless criminal is told in boring and illogical manner. There is a near 30-minute episode in the second half where Mahesh Babu uses TV serial watching women coming together to zero in on the house where Surya is hiding. This episode is interesting on paper but the execution part lacks punch.
After the end of this episode, the story moves to the penultimate sequences which are again made in a lackadaisical way.
The sequences between Mahesh Babu and Surya and the mind games that Surya plays are interesting and novel, this portion would have turned out excellent. In the crucial part of the movie, Murugadosss writing skills have gone for a toss. The penultimate sequences not only lack logic but also test patience.
While the entire movie is told in an action thriller mode, hero gives a strong message in the end which is more like comedy than a serious message. The climax here is one of the worst endings made in recent times.
All in all, Spyder has interesting first half, and some neatly packed episodes but it lets down totally as it is neither the best movie from Murugadoss, nor a good one for Mahesh Babu. Other than bits and pieces, it lacks appealing factor.
Greatandhra