 We're not in a black void this time. No. This is a white void. Just subsequently what I call your mother. Hey, welcome back to our Stupid Directs of Corbin. I'm Rick. You can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and more juicy content. Thank you to everybody who supports on Patreon, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe and hit the like button. We're voiding. This is actually, like even when we filmed them, that maybe it's because we're normally in like a parking garage. Yeah. And so there's like- Parking garage, and the last time we were here, it was something that's already gone down. Yeah. Anyway. Hi. Ah! Pick up your lung. Sorry. So today we are in the car because we are doing a movie review. Because we just saw the new 2023 film. Jagarathanda, double X. Yes. Directed by, is that Karthik Subaraj? Yes. And written by him as well, starring Raghava Lawrence and S.J. Surya. Yep. And Shine Tomo Chaco. As we're in a whole- Tomo Chaco? Is that what it is? Yeah, I like that. Oh yeah, it's Tom Chaco. No, I like Tomo Chaco. Tomo Chaco. It just came out. Yeah, like Friday. Friday. So this will be, we'll start with non-spoilers. And then if we're gonna get into some spoils, we will let you know before we do that because it's a new film. So like obviously if you guys aren't new here, you know how we do it. So if you haven't watched it, please go watch it. Come back, but this will be our non-spoiler review of Jagarathanda, double X. Rick, your initial thoughts of Jagarathanda, double X. Initial thoughts are really, what's the word I'm looking for? A herculean attempt at a story as far as I was concerned. I mean, it is a massive story to tell. It is, the score for me was the primary standout. I think the score is extraordinarily good. I thought there were pretty solid performances across the board. The one drawback for me was that I didn't get connected in the plot line to the characters in a way I had really hoped I would when we reached, because all stories, this is a spoiler, all stories have a conflict climax and a resolution. And once you get to that point where you're reaching the climax before the resolution, particularly a story like this, I had hoped I would have been more connected to my caring about our characters and the caring of the story. So the fact that that didn't happen to me made it a little bit less than what I had expected. But there's more good to say, couple of CGI things that didn't work, but there's more good to say, but it just, it wasn't as great as I was hoping it would be. No, I really enjoyed this one. And I love that it's a, and in a different way than like other films that we've seen, it's a love letter to cinema as a whole, really. Tamil cinema specifically. Yeah, and I bet there's a ton. But I caught a bunch of, obviously there's Hollywood references, there's a bunch of Tamil references. I heard originally that, something maybe you guys could tell me if this was a lie or not. He wanted superstar Raj Chakant in the lead and Kamal in the supporting. Wow. That was, I believe somebody told me that was his original hope. Yeah. Nutsprout, I think those characters probably based off of those people. And so that's probably like, this is who I'm thinking of when I'm doing these characters. The certain characters are just, you could tell they're inspired by these legends of Tamil cinema. Yeah. So that I really enjoy. I actually got quite connected to these people. So that's interesting that you didn't feel that. I understand it, I think, because obviously I think this was more, a lot more metaphorical than a full on, I don't know the correct word, but. Literal? Yeah, I guess literal. There are, I don't think it's totally not literal either. So it's kind of complicated in that way, but I get why you say that, but I actually kind of got connected with these. I can't give anything away, obviously. Yep. But I got that, but the main, the score for me is what you mentioned, the score was absolutely brilliant. The score is incredible. Very owed to Tamil cinema, South Indian cinema, Indian cinema as a whole, and some Western as well. Yeah. So that was great. As were some cinematography things. Absolutely. For the most part. The cinematography pretty much throughout, you just are really enjoying top notch quality cinema. Yeah, the statements overall, one about cinema, nature is another big one in this one, but also how cinema can affect the world around us. Yeah. I think that it's. Politics is incorporated. I think that was a big mess in it. And I think that's one of the main reasons he wanted to not only to celebrate, but to also Tamil cinema, but to celebrate cinema as a whole and the power that it holds. Yeah, yeah. And so I think that was another thing I really enjoyed. My biggest drawback would probably be the runtime. I think they probably could have cut, not that anything, and it was bad, that I was like, oh, you should have cut that. It was just. Right. Snappier films are always, I think, better. That also helps with the caring aspect. Absolutely. The points of that where you lose connection because of the runtime. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And this one, even though it was, there was lots of moments in it that were evident of like, this is Tamil cinema that you're just playing on screen. They also did a lot of buildup to that. So this is not like, I wouldn't even classify this as an action film. No, I wouldn't either. It's more of a drama which has quite a bit of action, but I still wouldn't qualify it as an action. To a certain extent, and maybe they did this because they wanted to, in their mind, they thought it would be a pleasant surprise. To a certain extent, the trailer and what we saw leading up to it, the teaser and things of that nature, are a bit misleading because I think one of the things that might help somebody, I don't consider what I'm about to say a spoiler, but let me just say that in the same that the trailer itself only gives you one aspect of the film. There is a large amount of this film that doesn't feel anything like the trailer. And that for me, I felt myself at those points wondering, are we gonna get back to that? You're talking like you almost felt it, in parts it did, the trailer gave you almost a Nelson vibe. It gave you a Nelson vibe and guns and Gulab, right? And this actually becomes, for those of you who might know, had I had this expectation, it might have helped me a little bit more in the following of the story, because that's something that threw me. I felt like we went off and didn't get back to that feeling of there's a great film that has Robert De Niro in it and Jeremy Irons, an old film called The Mission, that's very similar, really, really similar in its story. I can get to that in spoilers. Not so similar that I think it was stolen, but it's very comparable. And that film has the emotional impact where you care for the people and you have certain things happen emotionally on the spectrum of the storytelling. So yeah, I agree with you. I think the runtime could have done with it. That would be my biggest drive with it because I actually really enjoyed the performances and the, because I kind of saw what they, I saw what they were doing with it in terms of like who they were trying to emulate, who they were trying to celebrate, what they were trying to do with the cinema and a lot of comedy throughout. Not as much as like a Nelson film, which the trailer did give you that vibe of the entire thing's gonna be like this. And there's quite a bit of it, but I wouldn't say the entire thing is like that. Like how Nelson's film, the entire thing, there's always comedy throughout. Don't expect that. There is comedy though. And I think they do well with it. The songs in it, I thought were very, very nice. The singers, the score, as you said, was absolutely fantastic. There's a lot of references that I picked up on and I'm sure there's a billion others, especially Tamil references that I did not pick up on. You guys will. Like I said, cause this is just an ode Tamil cinema. And I think it gave you, there's parts of the end that I really, really enjoyed and there's parts that I would have just done differently. Me too. To make it hit harder. Me too. But also, that's also Tamil cinema or Indian cinema, not even just Tamil. Of how you end films. It's a different way than I would end films. Right. And we've seen that many, many times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so obviously he's a Tamil director. You guys know Tamil cinema better than I do. So that was probably on purpose because of just how it's done. But there's certain moments that would have been a great moment to end on right there. And actually I think they had a really good end moment but I also like, there's a difference in how somebody would have made a film as opposed to somebody else. What else, for non-spoilers before we get into some. This is actually the first time I think we've seen actually a lot of these actors. Raghava Lawrence, who we know more as a dancer. One of the best dancers in all of India, I think went to the same school as Prabhu, I believe. But I thought his character, I don't think it's, I think it's definitely inspired by Superstar Rajnikanth. Surely. To the fact that if that was his first choice, it's evident. Because. There's also tips of the cap to. But American Western. American Western. But like, this is basically, if it's a celebration of Tamil cinema, you can't tell it without Rajnikanth, right? Yeah, that's who that's supposed to be. And so there was lots of that, which was very fun to see. I liked his performance in it, because it was, and the way they did it, I think it's in the trailer. They're filming a film and real life. And so they kind of switch back sometimes, which leads to some comedy and stuff like that. And it kind of goes all over the place in the runtime of, and it goes through similar beats that a lot of Tamil cinema goes through. Yeah, and leaves certain plot points and just decides we're not going to talk about those things anymore as it goes off in a different direction. So there's a lots of that, which I did really appreciate. How much of it is, I didn't even pick up on, but I got connected to them in the end. I was feeling it in the, not that I cried, I don't do that. Sorry guys. Unless there's like a dad and a kid now. That will, more than ever, that gets me now. But overall, I really enjoyed the film. My biggest gripe would be, you could have cut 25 minutes off of this thing and made it snappier. And still had the same impact of everything. I don't think that would have taken anything away from the story. That would be my biggest gripe with the film. You said yours more though. Mine was the connectivity with the characters and caring about what they were doing and their whys, like the depth of why they're doing what they're doing and why it matters so much. It didn't gravitate. And I don't know that it necessarily has to do with the fact it could, that I'm neither Indian or Demillion. I think it's just the human element of it. Cause there's universal truth in the storytelling, which is very, very good. It just didn't magnetize my heart to the characters and the story the way I wanted it to based on the payoff. That's very evident when you get to the end of the film. Yeah. And I think, like I said, in the beginning, I think some of that was, which I totally understand because I think they were going more for a lot of the metaphorical, dommel celebration part of it, which in turn takes away the direct, cause they're doing a lot of different things that can take you out of your caring for certain characters or just because they're trying to do something different other than make you fully care. Right. Even though I did have a different experience with that, but I absolutely see why you would say that. Other than that, in terms of the non-spoiler stuff, no, that would be a spoiler. I don't want to talk about that later. But yeah, the composition, the composer is Santosh Narayan. Yeah, that's a big standout for me because you can tell there was a lot of celebration in it, one, but also blends of everything from West Gorge's to dommel, to just Indian cinema as a whole. He did a, and it was unique. Yeah. Everything he did with it was unique. I mean, had every, I mean, the amount of genres that the music covered and when it needed to be cinematic, it was. This is one of the best scores of the year. Absolutely. And it was, I felt like there was a lot of, even Superstar Rajakann's theme and a lot of it as well. Like that. That's I just associate with him now. But there was just a lot of that. There was a lot of just different genres blended together, Western stuff blended together, that I really, really appreciate. And also kind of even if the film was stretching at times, the score helps bring you in. The score is what held me through. Yeah. Anyways, so that will be at the end of our non-spoilers. So if you haven't seen the film, please go watch the film. It's out now. In some part, it doesn't have a wide distribution. This is just, it's a crowded field right now. Dommel obviously does. The theater is so crowded right now. But I have seen like in other states. Yeah. It's not getting as wide of a release. Obviously, Tigers came out this weekend and other things, but so if you haven't watched, please go watch it come back because we're gonna get into some spoils. You said there was something you wanted to talk about in the beginning, but there was a spoiler? Or do you remember it or what? I don't remember what it was at the very beginning. Okay. But anyways, so the end, I'm guessing you said you didn't, spoilers. Yeah. Spoilers now. It was kind of, I felt like a full-on ode to Dommel Center because how many times in Indian cinema as a whole do we see the hero be the savior of the village? And so it hit those same exact beats. Recently, it's just, it happens all the time. And so I felt a lot of that was kind of like just not only celebration, but also metaphoric. I thought they were gonna end after he fell and that I thought they were just gonna have the politicians win. Yeah. And I was like, this is, but then obviously you'd have to bring in the element of cinema that can kind of... And the movie they made. The movie they made to change and hopefully bring about that. And so I get that. It was just such a strong statement. It would have been a really nice, beautiful statement of the, I can't think of another word, but the damnable negativity of hierarchies in politics and bureaucracy crushing goodness. But also I see the flaw in that is the film is not trying to do that specifically. It's more trying to celebrate cinema. Right. As a whole. And the power of cinema. I get that you have to bring that in. Exactly. I actually thought that the ending they did was cool in terms of like, it was another ode to Western cinema and Tamil heroes and all that kind of stuff. And so that was cool. And it's just, if you could have blended both even better. And the power to change. Like I think that line is really great when they're coming out of the theater and you hear the person on the news saying 30 years of her career has been ended in three hours of a film. And then that film has the power to change people's minds that way. So I do get that at the end. Because if your entire films about celebrating cinema, you have to end it with celebrating cinema, but then he also ended it with, oh, leaders, why? Right. So that's a very strong statement in which I really appreciate it. And that was where the, you know, the why, the why everybody is dying and why everybody is willing to sacrifice all of this. And it becoming that the prime minister hopeful, the woman that she's just ultimately very, very evil and is just trying to obliterate every elephant and every living thing and every human being in the jungle because she's got some people who want to buy the land. The simplicity of that and the non-believeability of that for me to just paint the picture of the bad guy distanced me from what I think had the capability. And do you remember the movie? Did you see the movie, The Mission? No, I didn't. The movie, The Mission is a story, I believe it is a true story about a crusader that's Robert De Niro and a priest who are in the same tribe. And the priest's goal is to convert them to Catholicism and the crusader's goal is to obliterate them. But he gets captured by the people and it becomes one of those dances with wolves things where he sees the beauty of the people and simultaneously the good priest, Jeremy Irons, discovers that what he's going about to try and bring these people all the progress of the 20th century and also what he believes is the salvation of their souls, he discovers that the Catholic churches it's just as corrupt as the crusaders who are coming in and they both decide that they're gonna stand with the villagers because the villagers are the more humane and decent people not the people they came from. And it's a really beautiful revelatory thing that sees these two standing against all odds with these people and you watch them in the same way you do in say dances with wolves or there was another movie with Dustin Hoffman way back in the day where he too was a white guy who's raised by Native Americans where you get and I know what you said and I agree this is more metaphorical than it is literal so that's for me why it didn't really hit. And I saw the director, I'm thankful it wasn't as heavy handed as it could have been but the director was trying to grab our heartstrings. There were a lot of things that were done that were trying to get us emotionally connected and that just doesn't ever work for me. Gotcha. No, that in part did work for me. I actually liked what they did with the score, the non-score at times. So the score was amazing. At the end of it when they were all being massacred basically, I thought it was a really cool scene. I really liked that a lot. The whole saving from the evil bad guy I just thought was like another just an ode. Like a trope. Yeah, a trope thing but also the same trope that we've seen even in RRR of the hero going back to doing everything he can to save his village. We even saw it in RRR obviously. That was one of the elements of that. And I think it probably also, there's also Hindu elements that we got because they showed a God many, many times. And the names. And so that stuff I'm still not gonna ever pick up on as much as people that have lived it their entire lives. And there will always be something about the utilization of emotion in Indian cinema, irrespective of region. It's something that's done that is just not part of anything within the Western spectrum of storytelling. Yeah, it's very, very unique to them. It's very, very unique. And for them, they don't view it in a way that comes across as trying to use particular disciplines that have a manipulative aspect to it. Because that's what cinema has been for them for such a long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, I have a question with Mike. Did you catch the Sholay reference? With the sidecar? Or was there another one? The sidecar, it was definitely one. That was the one I only, that was the only one I got. What did I miss? I'm pretty sure, correct me if I'm wrong, when he, when was it? Sorry, long film. He was questioning his men. And he said, he didn't say Kittin' the Obnite, but I believe he said how many were there. And then he said, and he shot them. And then it was when he was questioning his men. Good call, you're right. And they, the opening shot was a, I know it because I've looked, I've seen that scene many, many times. But the opening shot was like the direct on his foot, which is how that scene opens, which is on Gabar's foot. Yeah, good call. And it's a very similar scene. And I'm sure there was a billion other similar ones. I don't know if this occurred to you at all at any point, but it's so germane to what we've been going through here in Hollywood for the past several months. But when they did, and I liked it, but when they did the moment where it was clearly Clint Eastwood giving him the camera, my thought was, does Clint know they're using us like me? Probably not. I'd imagine no. Yeah. But yeah, the end sequence, I really appreciated it. A lot of the dances were really great. What did you think about the baby surviving in the triple X at the end? Hinting very, very firmly at a sequel and the baby having survived that car crash. Yeah, I, that was, that was... Oh, I mean, yeah, it happens all the time where people survive crazy things and come back to come back in the end. I've gotten to the point now when I see stuff like that in the back of my mind I go, just remember John Wick for it, Rick. Yeah, yeah. Just remember John Wick. It's just done for the excitement of the audience. Yes, and these are more for entertainment purposes. But one, this is not a continuation, right? I was told over and over, obviously the jigger's Honda, which I was told is not a, it's not the section not related. Maybe he's just telling three different cinema stories. Well, and to make it more... No one made it look like it was a direct. To make it all the more confusing, when we looked up the film, at least when I looked it up, I found two different places that said this was a prequel and one that said it was a sequel. Yeah. So, if it is a direct sequel, because they and made it seem like it's gonna be almost a direct continuation. Yeah, and the couple of spots particularly, for the most part, there were a good job, there were a couple of CGI spots with the elephants and the fire that you just have to just kind of, it's that don't look at the guy behind them. I liked a lot of the cinematography and I liked that kind of the villain guy. I mean, I guess he's like a villager, kind of like animal basically. Yeah, covered in mud. Yeah, a lot of their sequences were really cool. This had a lot of like saving nature elements as well. Obviously big elephants, which obviously very pro. Not killing elephants, don't ever do that. Yeah, no, don't kill elephants. Please don't. And don't obliterate native peoples from their land just because you're gonna make money. Yeah, I'm gonna America. Yep. We famously did that. And we still do. Yes, yeah. I'm just trying to think of anything else before we end here. Any other scenes that we wanted to talk about? Yeah, I enjoyed a lot of the humor in it. You can tell certain elements were Quentin-esque in how they did it. A lot of really creative shots. There was one that was really cool. Guy popped his head out but then they twisted the entire camera. Twisted it around. Yeah, it looked like he had fallen and was being held upside down and it was just him walking down the steps with a towel over his neck. A lot of great violence, you know, I appreciate that. Yep. And so overall, I really enjoyed the film. Looks like Rick enjoyed it as well, just not as much. Yeah, I'm ultimately glad I saw it. Yeah. Just I didn't love it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Let us know what you thought about the film. If you liked it, if you didn't like it, if you loved it, if you didn't love it, let us know what you thought, what should be our next for this director and what should be our next Tamil cinema excursion. What is the next Tamil cinema that can... Well, they're all being delayed now. Right. Merry Christmas might be delayed. Did you hear about that? Again? Yeah, after Christmas. Oh no. But apparently there's Eastern Christmas. I didn't know that actually. How do you... Like, it's apparently like January 12th or something. I didn't know that. Maybe. Anyways. So let us know what should be our next film down below.