First of all, I'm not really in Bollywood movies, but seeing Alia Bhatt in a full-blown action role was something I was genuinely looking forward to and then you add Sharvari, Bobby Deol and Anil Kapoor to the mix, throw in the whole YRF Spy Universe, and expectations are naturally going to be pretty high, and I won't lie...The movie looks good...
Like, really good...
The action is probably the first thing that grabbed my attention... Alia and Sharvari clearly put in the work because there are some scenes where they're throwing punches, using weapons and taking down people twice their size, and I'm just sitting there thinking, "Okay, I see you." ..
Alia plays Sita, a woman who was basically raised and trained to become a weapon... Her childhood is anything but normal and as she grows older, she eventually discovers some painful truths about where she came from...
Sharvari plays Durga and her character eventually becomes connected to Sita in a way that gives the story a much more personal angle and i actually liked the idea behind their relationship..
This isn't just another spy movie where two agents are running around the world trying to stop a bomb...
There's family, betrayal, revenge, guilt and there's the whole question of whether someone who was raised to be a weapon can actually choose who they want to become... That part of the story worked for me.
Alia definitely carries the movie.. I wasn't sure how convincing she would be as this hardened action character, but she surprised me.. She's not John Wick but she handles the physical side of the role well and has some genuinely impressive moments...
Sharvari also brings a lot of energy.. I actually wish she had more to do because I thought she was one of the more enjoyable parts of the movie...
The two of them together are probably the biggest reason the movie feels different from the usual YRF Spy stereotype and then there's Bobby Deol...
This man really knows how to play intimidating villains... His character, Fateh Singh Lakhawat, is connected to Sita's past and is responsible for turning her into the kind of person she eventually becomes... He's not the loudest villain, but there's something about his presence that makes you uncomfortable...
Anil Kapoor is also solid as Vikrant Kaul, the RAW chief... He brings that experienced mentor energy, and yes... Hrithik Roshan shows up...
I'm not going to spoil anything about his appearance, but I will say the man knows how to make an entrance.
You can almost feel the excitement when he appears...
Now, here's where I started having problems with Alpha...
The story...
I think the movie has a good story buried underneath all the action, but it takes a little too long getting there...
There are so many twists, flashbacks and emotional explanations that sometimes I felt like the movie was trying too hard to make me feel something...
One minute we're watching a spy thriller.
The next we're dealing with family trauma, then we're back to international espionage, then another flashback, then another emotional revelation and I'm just sitting there like...
"Okay, can we please get back to the punching?"..
The emotional side isn't bad, but I don't think every moment lands as strongly as the movie wants it to.
The action is where Alpha feels alive..
When the movie slows down too much to explain the characters, it sometimes loses that energy and the plot itself isn't exactly something brand new..
I also appreciated that the movie didn't force a romantic storyline into the middle of everything... The focus stays mostly on the characters, their missions and their relationships.. That was a good decision because adding some random love story would have just distracted from what the movie was trying to do..
Visually, the movie is beautiful too..
The locations, the costumes, the action sequences and the cinematography all give it that big Bollywood spy-movie feeling...
Rating: 80/100
