Sudhir Srinivasan's The Late Review | Leo | Vijay | Trisha | Lokesh Kanagaraj 

Sudhir once again proves what sets him apart from other reviewers.. This film is a character study.. The movie is how Parthi slowly gravitates towards violence and in the end exposing himself to his son. Although the movie isnt perfect I think the movie is far better than other movies that just throw bgms and make heros walk in slowmotion with no reason at all.. I think there is big chunk cut out from Parthi and his son relationship that wouldve taken the movie to another level. It would've been bettr if they didnt have the flashback and just like they didnt have a flashback for dilli.

One thing people need to see here is that Parthiban is not trying to hide Leo in him but instead try to forget the Leo in him. Circumstances lead him to not do that.

100% genuine review. Not an vanmam filled or one sided review to watch🤩

The negative reviews say that the Villains are not powerful. That's the same question Lokesh brings up in the movie, which is Villain Yaaru da? The Villain is Leo Dass and the hero is also Parthiban. The rest of the characters are just supporting characters only. Even Sanjay Dutt is not a bad person compared to Leo. He saves Leo when everyone decides to kill him. He saves Leo's family from the serial killer villains. He never came to the cafe to kill Leo, he came to ask for his son. He acts according to his beliefs and that doesn't make him a bad person. There's a scene in a cafe when Leo and Anthony meet up at the cafe. Behind Anthony's head there will portray an angel wings symbol while behind Leo will be a sharp evil crown. Even Harold Dass respects his brother Anthony's decision, which is to sacrifice either Leo or his sister and he decides not to hurt a girl and chooses Leo. It shows his respect for his brother(Anthony's decision) and Harold never breaks the rules of killing them. Harold will kill Leo's sister only when Leo burns all the products of Dass & Co. either Everything that Anthony and Harold want is to bring Leo back and build the empire he destroyed. That is why they actually celebrated by lifting Leo's picture when they confirmed that it is Leo. (or) they want to sacrifies leo to boost their empire After all, family's love never fails all the years. (Peaky Blinders). Lokesh concludes to us that Leo is the Villain when Leo tells the audience that he has nothing good to say about his past, since he never did anything good. Not only that, he will also kill anyone who comes in his way to identify him as Leo Dass in the future. One man show it is indeed!!!

Except for the flashback, I really liked the film. Seldom do I like the protagonist as a character in big hero films as most of them rarely go beyond hero worship and the actor's personality. But the main reason Leo worked for me, despite of all it's flaws, is that I really liked Parthiban as a character.

You should definitely set a post interview with lokesh and rise these questions everything you said is valid

What a genuine no nonsense study of the movie👏. Just felt Lokesh rushed through the backstory of Leo. The movie would have been great, if the flashback portions were just narrated rather than being shown! Imagine, Leo backstory not being shown but only discussed through some characters in the film. Wouldn’t that have created a huge hype for the part 2?!

Although the film didn't exactly extend deep into lcu, there were some subtle lcu references in the film which were really enjoyable. In a particular scene involving parthiban, sathya and joshi; parthiban mentions that he grew up in sathyamangalam orphanage for 20 years (same place that amar in vikram was from). In the very next scene, sathya resembles gayatri from vikram in her dialogue, as she asks parthiban "have I ever doubted you?" . Basically, the relationship between sathya and parthiban in that scene sort of mirrored that between gayatri and amar in vikram.

Just like you mentioned, the emotional stakes are the only thing that can make us audience root for the hero's revenge. Here, both the villains had a chance of being ruthless yet was denied by the mid writing. IMO, the more intense the drama is more will be the impact in a climax for any action movie. Lokesh knows it yet he missed it somehow. Nevertheless I still like to wander around lokiverse and hopefully Lokesh will strike back next time with a banger !!!

Your tamil, Biryanila kidacha leg piece madhiri, pongal sapdumbodhu kidaikara mundhiri maadhiri

What a great review.. cultured, sofisticated use of words . Truly respected the approach.. .looking forward to more such stuff..❤

So many people saying “LCU connection was not well established”. But it seems they don’t remember the name told by neppoleon “Dilli” to Parthiban. At the end “Yarenru Therigiratha?” Asked by Vikram to parthiban. His reaction confirms “yes”. Both these detail insists “Parthiban knows both of them”. But how? Something is there behind this. Nobody understood the connection. As they know them as a part of LCU, they consider it as a connection given by director to the audience. It’s actually not. The connection between Parthiban and Dilli and Vikram is being established by the director.

FIrst half : Lokesh Kanagaraj 2nd half : Rathna Kumar

I am happy to see the way Vijay carried himself in the entire movie even i liked him in 2nd half. I think if you re watch the movie again mark my words you will definitely like it. Mark my words its true. Coz first time i saw i was of the same opinion like everyone but due to some unavoidable reasons had to watch 2nd time and it changed my mind i started liking even 2nd half too. PS: not a thalapathy fan but, like Vijay as an entertainer.

I agree with what you said about cigarettes. It's perfectly fine to use it for a character, but for Leo, there is no need for that prop even though it's negligible.

Super bro, I have never seen a reviewers who can review a movie so detailed and brilliantly. 👍👍👍

I Hope there lots of hooks and mysteries in Leo will be unveiled in upcoming LCU films,Also there are lot of Easter eggs in the film,which gets better in 2nd watch❤💥

This guy can dub for Arjun Das childhood episodes

One of the best reviews I have ever heard !!! wow really amazing. I am listening to you first time and wow it’s really sensible and many times spoke my mind sir..

lokesh tried to says that leo is the villain, and parthi is the hero who is trying to protect his family from knowing his past

When I watched #Leo for the first time I also felt the same feel as you said. But when I watched it for the second time my entire thoughts about the film has been reversed. When I watched it for the first time I watched it through the perspective of Parthiban,an ordinary person who cares about his family,an only thing he has in this world. I was searching for Leo upto the end. Sometimes Leo is showing up through parthiban but I was confused about that because anyone could do that if they are in a situation like that. But when I watched it for the second time I was already aware that he is Leo and I saw everything through Leo’s perspective and then I easily understood that he’s trying to hide Leo inside Parthiban. That felt really good for me and I really enjoyed watching the movie even the second half. When we see through Leo’s perspective a lot of things are kept hidden in this movie and somehow we have to connect the dots properly to understand it. I think this is an absolute directorial brilliance of #Lokesh. He entirely mocked the audience to think like what you said and at the same time he succeeded to rewrite the feel when we revisit the film once more. How can someone change the opinion of the same film when it was watched twice? How he predicted all these,because before the release of film in an interview he told that everyone will have a reason to watch it again. Pure class direction and a well crafted script and screenplay. I don’t think #Lokesh is that much bad to cast big stars like #SanjayDutt & #Arjun to simply write off without much screen presence. He has kept something hidden regarding these characters and I hope both of them will come back in any of his next projects and show their real faces. He just kept Leo’s mystery untold. As far as I understood he is his own Villain. Means he don’t want anyone to know about his past and he chained #Leo inside him and to pursue as Parthiban for his entire life. But when some unexpected things happens in his life and he got scared about it will affect his family which he cares about more than anything #Leo is jumping out of him and he don’t have any options to keep calm. So #Leo is the villain of #Parthiban and he is trying to keep hiding #Leo but #Leo keeps coming back for some reasons. The way Lokesh plotted Hyena in such an Icy,frozen world is Fantastic. Because Hyenas will attack as a group and they move together as a clan and also it is uncommon in such climactic situations. We can see when it comes to animals Hyenas are the one who always have the courage to get close to Lions . Leo is Lion and Parthiban is Hyena. This is the fight between these two characters. And when we watch it we can understand that he classified both characters as ICE 🧊 and FIRE 🔥 and the colour temperature used to separate both is quite unique. He chose cool and icy colours to show Parthiban and Warm tones to show whenever #Leo shows up. There are lot of things to be find out in this movie and as of me it is the best ever movie of #Lokesh until now and I hope when the spectators finds out the hidden mystery of Leo they all will appreciate him and accept this film. Waiting for Lokesh to officially reveal what’s his idea behind this film and I am eagerly waiting to watch both of you having some serious discussions regarding these things.

The happiness of getting this person's review in the feed knowing it is going to be a sensible, well thoughtful and unique perspective!!! Respect for you keeps growing man! #looking forward to more

Most genuine , accurate, polite, review

Yes it is super first half and decent second half but not the worst second half

Hyena sequence was a foreshadowing of Leo/Parthi. "Hyena are social animals always loves with its community. If it's alone then either it might have lost its way or it might have left the crew ". "Leo was with his family. He left his family becoz of some inter family clash".

i also had the same prespective you had. i know there will again be an interview with lokesh in few days please ask him all these ask him to take time and come with good 100000% lokesh film with Vijay

A perfect review!! Reasonated with my thoughts while watching the film... Loved the film but felt a little letdown... Thoroughly enjoy all your reviews and interviews ... Thank you...😊❤

Better Sudhir and BR should join story discussion with future Lokesh's film. As a critic atleast... They have good world movie taste and knowledge. Will be good for the industry.

A very fair n balanced review... Couldn't agree more

Vikram second half had the same problem(though not this worse), still wondering why people aren't acknowledging it. Rathna somewhat has mentioned this in an interview that he told lokesh about his criticism in second half but lokesh told him not to mind out of confidence.

👀Like how the separated hyena was domesticated and later used by Parthibhan, leo might have been saved in 1999 by Vikram and domesticated by him to be used when the time comes👀

Thought provoking Suggestion Sudhir anna! that "we need to do justice while reviewing the movie, to express what we had as a whole and not just expressing the climax mood".

The best review for Leo with in depth analysis. I wish we have second part by extending the characters from second half esp Anurag and Arjun .

wonderfully broke it down.!!! thanks a lot !! Well reviewed with balance and integrity

Ayyaaaa en manasula irunthatha apdiye solringalee aiyaaaa😳🤌..athey sogam athey disappointment thaanya ingayuuuu

Genuine review 👍 One thing which I felt is during climax where Parthiban accepts himself as Leo, do we need such a lengthy dialogue from him. Instead he would have just rolled the revolver over his shoulder..

Such a fantastic and levelled review man! Thanks lot for this... Yes it definitely had its flaws but, its not as of its the baddest films it came out this year like others are portrayimg.. Thanks again sudhir!

Thank you for your nuanced, balanced review. Completely agree with this. There's a lot of reviewers around, but your take on movies is always a class apart.

Excellent review. From my view of this movie , it seems that all the movie is about Parthi.. Parthi is fearful to something but neither antony das nor harold das. Something more is hidden here about this Parthi role.. Even he will not have used that bad word , if he is really Leo das as Leo's vision about his mother could have been good after his sister said at her dying moment which is in the flashback. And however after completing all these things , at the end of the movie , I am convinced that Parthi's chapter had been very well written and executed. For all other confusions Lokesh has to answer in his forthcoming movies, either it may be a sequel or prequel. Till then we have to wait with all these confusions.. something similar like how we waited for the question "Why Kattappa killed Bahubali"? and here "Who is Parthi?" Only sad about the movie is , Wife of Myskkin will keep Myskkin's dead body in front of the home, till Parthi's death. 😄😄

I expected this...really everyone should know this... there are many hints in this movie. I think most of the person don't understand this....hats off bro!!

What I saw from the movie is, Antony das or harold das are not really ruthless villains for Leo… they are negative characters but they are still family for Leo and they wanted him to come back and rebuild das and co. Lokesh probably tried to portray us Leo himself as the main villain in the movie so he didn’t want other characters to overpower him

Very good perspectives got to know from ur review. Great work bro.. keep it up 🌟💯🌟

Leo has many unfold things which deliberately not open up in movie... Mansoor well wisher of leo, how can he reveal truth of leo when someone ask about him.. When vikram called Parthiban, he told that leo fired the factory for drug free society.. Why antony and Harold das had some soft corner towards leo... Did parthiban son knows the truth in climax??... Hope it all open up soon...director Lokesh won't insert a movie into lcu, untill lcu require that character..vikram 2 will reveal answer

One of the best and genuine review. We want to see you and lokesh in one deep analysis of leo for at least one hour. We want to explore the view of him

This film felt similiar to the way Kaithi was presented with multiple loose ends, but there was enough tension in that film til the end which was lacking in Leo for the 2nd half, but the action sequences like Lokesh had said would be satisfactory for most people. For me, I understood that this film is basically a character study on parthiban/leo and the purpose of the film was to mainly establish his character arc in the LCU along with huge action scenes and sequence of events, which they have done perfectly and isnt your typical masala hero type formula. General audiences may have gone in with a certain expectation of the typical hero template easily winning in the end, but may have misinterpreted the character portrayals, especially vijays, other possible plot points or details may have not been picked up, due to the lack of LCU awareness. The execution of the second half flashback portion could have been better, for example Lokesh could have emphasised the Rashomon effect similar to Kamal's Virumaandi, where multiple people throughout the film had explained Leo's villanious back story with gvm investigating and that leading to loose ends. Anyways if not in theatres, I suggest everyone to rewatch the film when on OTT as the film isnt as bad as it seems to be with all the negative reviews or hate coming out, definitely better than Master, and hopefully the intentional loose ends are clarified in all the sequels.

Always liked your reviews, this one stands alone in the crowds

First time seeing your review . Thanks for RU-vid for suggesting your review . You perfectly reflected my thoughts and the love the way you have deeply studied the characters and the way of giving review for a movie . Benchmark for other reviewers to learn from you .

Ur reviews are really good... different from usual reviewers

Fantastic review! Completely unbiased...

Calm and Composed Sudhir

Fantastic Review Sudhir as usual. You are the one honestly doing the job. Appreciate it

Your point about Anurag Kashyap easter egg in another interview solved my disappointment. Thanks for that. Btw, Good review bro!!

Hands down the most sensible review🫡

Thanks, bro other reviewers should watch your link

I loved the first half. I am normally not a Vijay fan but was pleasantly surprised to see Vijay in this subtle classy role in the first half - I love classy Vijay > Massy Vijay. Hence the 2nd half was a downer for me - the entire flashback seemed silly, rushed in terms of writing. I hated the climax reveal of Vijay taking his shirt off and basically being his normal cocky Vijay self, and it was exactly like the climax fight of Master where he took his shirt off. The cafe fight scene was the standout sequence in the entire film for me. It was superbly written and executed, staged. Also kudos to Vijay for agreeing to do a film like this outside of his comfort zone. Thanks to Loki, we get to see Vijay 3.0. Can we talk about how mindblowing it is that a guy with so much ego like Vijay has agreed to 'be a part' of an LCU shared by other actors? Can we talk about how epic it is that he & GVM are casually sharing screen-space like buddies and talking in English? For those of you not aware, many many years ago GVM approached Vijay for one of his slick action films, But Vijay rejected him saying that was too classy for him and instead asked GVM to go watch his movies like Thiruppachi and Sivakasi to get ideas. And cut to 2023 - how things have changed. I love it.

You are the one reviewer, I can see who sees the film as a film and does not take baggage from his old movie. Ivanga oru frame la oru orama oru photo iruntha atha decode pannuvanga ana ipdi oru straight ah character sollum pothu oruthanukum purinjika mudila

Such a detailed and indepth review sir , ending is true ,the movie might have some flaws which didn't work for all but its not a bad one I thoroughly enjoyed it

Great review once again ❤

Really happy to see your way of reviewing instead of spoiling any movie with their views.. For me personally, the movie went like a wind with super highs and emotions.. Happy to see thalabhathy as a performer.. Actually I went to see Leo but parthiban made a huge impact so closing the Leo character soon was perfectly ok.. Please keep doing your good work .. brother

Such an Intelligent review brother 🙌🏻

In simple it's not a bad movie, below average movie for lokesh standards. You did a good job in being as gentle as possible to tell the hard truth. We got to accept our failures to achieve bigger things, im sure lokesh will do that and come back stronger.

Best unbiased critical review I hv seen so far

I really liked your review na.. it's perfect..👍👍 hat's off..!!!!!

The most sensible review I have seen till today, hope u do a post interview session with Loki

Thank you for supporting Vijay

Just addicted to your voice after the football world cup commentry in sony ❤

Super review...sudhir...specially the voice.. Tamil directors please use his voice any of your hero role...or villain..it's awesome.

Nice way and very interesting review😊 If other movie critics also use this way maybe Tamil cinema will do better.

The FINEST review for LEO...

Great review sudhir... just watch Lalit Interview with BR.. looks like Loki has to make some Sacrifice in his creative process and i personally think Announcing release date during movie Announcement cause this average second half... fpr instance loki had 2-3 years for Vikram and Kaithi he done it well,but for Master and Leo he didn't have that time.....

You are the best reviewer and i saw the video you said lokesh not to disclose any information or hint about the movie . The way you explained the audience point of view was great.. Loved it ❤

Could have been a two part movie IMO. That would have probably given him more time to show us more about the Das company. I loved the first half of the movie. His relationship with his family and the stunts were the highlights. Could have become one of the all time best action movies but fell short slightly to still become a good action movie.

You have to rewatch sudhir, it's 1000% loki's flim, and you don't have any idea if you guys compare this flim to kaithi and Vikram, Leo is loki's experimental flim , movies like fight club . You need more consciousness to watch this 2nd half of the flim. I clearly believes Leo is the masterpiece and many Easter eggs for the characters and their dialogues, each and every small story leads to open ended story. We tamil audience didn't experience this kind of screenplay where kamal tried many times to change the way of perspective for audience to see flims, he 50% only succeeded, now it's Loki's era to increase this figure to 90%

Great analysis

Best reviewer of South 🌍™️

Liked your review

Great review brother ❤

Lovely review Sudhir.

Okay, Hear me out. I think people are misunderstanding what the 2nd half is about. It feels like a completely different movie, especially something like the old commercial movies done by Vijay, because it is supposed to. I was thrown off by how off the flashback portion felt but this interpretation made sense as the movie progressed. I think this whole movie is a meta commentary on Vijay's career. The flashback portion is the Vijay we've been used to seeing. 1. Over the top stunts with poor wirework 2. Vijay being a gangster and finding redemption after a traumatic event 3. His usual sister sentiment 4. Going against his father 5. His usual mannerisms The Parthiban portion of the movie is an analogue of how Loki perceives an action star should be. A deeply flawed human who has an external as well as an internal conflict he has to overcome. The fact that the action and writing returned right back to form once the flashback ended is what sealed this interpretation for me. Parthi also mentions that if he wants others to believe Leo is dead, he has to first believe it himself. From the way Vijay fit into the character of Parthi, I think he might have started believing. Also keep in mind that this is not the first time Loki has used an actor's career as meta. The whole Ghost storyline in Vikram was a commentary on the assumed dead career of Kamal Hassan. The fact that the leads' names were not mentioned in maanagaram was a meta indication of the actors' relative unpopularity. Let me know if this makes sense.

Nice review 👌👏

The best review for this movie , the way you convey the message to lokesh kanagaraj is very gentle. There was a rumor before movie released that rift between vijay and Lokesh ,so some one else directed the second half. I don’t think that was a rumor

nice one!!

Interesting points about the movie... Lokesh would learns from his small mistakes and create his interesting screenplay... One thing would i suggest to him was.... Dont team up with silly writers like Ratna and fan boys of thier hero's Antha maari writters ku pudicha avanga oru type audience ku matu tha movie poi serum... So lokesh will give justice for stories not for hero's Its suits for all the current big and good directors

as you said lokesh has set his standard's high 💥

Perfect Review 🤝❤️

Seriously Bro Honest Review

Honest review 🙌

I totally agree, I feel the same, it is a good movie, ❤

Finally some sensible review by someone

excellent & neat review so far for Leo... I too believe Lokesh struck into the mass hero elements in the second half with mediocre writing of the villains & also as a audience we couldn't fully understand the character of Leo.. many would say lokesh has put many hidden secrets in the movie but eventually it ends up as a bad writing... Because, if you have put any hidden secret you should have reveal it at the climax or as a post credit scene like Marvel, but if you are saying about these hidden things on twitter & youtube (like Rathnakumar doing), it is the BAD writing..Also, LCU connection are more like a forced one for the market strategy & Mariam george character didn't connect & it spoils the kaithi effect too... Hope Lokesh comes back stronger..

Hey sudhir! Your review was spot on, although you handled it in a diplomatic manner, the ability of giving a “constructive criticism based movie review “ must not be easy. Hope you keep growing and doing this fabulous job!

13:59 brilliant point of view bro ungaluku❤

That was a lovely review by Sudhir. In fact, I enjoyed your review after so long. That was very detailed, analytic and precise observations about Leo. What worked for me: 1) The entire first half 2) Vijay - Trisha chemistry 3) Vijay's stunning performance What didn't work for me 1) Leo's flashback 2) Car chase fight 3) Forced LCU connect Overall, I loved Leo. This is Vijay's best performance since vijay's action avatar. I know some will say Kaththi but that Jeevanantham character had only 2 best performance scenes but here Vijay as Parthi had many layers and Vijay this time had more scope to showcase his acting skills. Elisa played by Madonna as Leo's twin sister could have had more impact. Leo on the whole is a good action film with some flaws

Perfect review

@sudhir, on point with everything except the character study part. Adding on to it, I feel Lokesh had everything in his grasp to make the second half "FEEL" right, but missed on that opportunity.

That's was point which was in my mind for a long time, if 2nd half is nice the whole movie is treated as good n block buster but vice versa 1st half is nice the movie is treated average also creates a bad impression about whole as a word mouth it's goes ok n once watchable, you said that right man. Ayirathil Oruvan was the first movie gave me this thought. Is this a fate for a cinema to create better 2nd half for any movie?

I can 100 percent relate your views to mine

great review.. i think the movie should mesmerize the audience without drawing attention to technical richness of the film.. unfortunately i had to console myself with the action choreographies and cinematographies towards the ends.. big disappointmet emerges when parthi explicitly states that he is leo, .. it could have been a loose end with just a few clues and lokesh is good with creating loose ends.. the last 50 min of vikram and leo were both brute force, no brained action, unfortunately there is no rolex to save the generic flow of leo in second half..hope loki focuses on second half writing drama more than action..💔

Love the cameo Sudhir

Very nice 👌 review