‘Retro’ review: A stylish action flick that eventually loses its edge

Karthik Subbaraj’s Retro is often deliciously retro. The mullets and soft pastel chiffons are back, as are characters with major daddy issues. But when Retro starts taking itself too seriously, the same vibe we admire in the beginning evolves into something of an overkill towards the end.

The Tamil film jumps between various time periods and places, including Tuticorin and Sierra Leone, but is primarily set on an island in the Andamans. The spiritually inclined gangster Parivel (a robust Suriya) arrives here to find the heartbroken Buddhist Rukmini (Pooja Hegde).

Parivel, in characteristic Subbaraj hero fashion, is not your typical gangster. He can karate-chop anyone in sight but he cannot crack a smile even when he tries. This could have something to do with his unstated parentage, a fact his foster father (Joju George) never lets him forget. When Parivel finds his emptiness reflected in the island’s daily wage workers (who have also forgotten how to laugh), he sets out to find his purpose.

In a genre overpopulated and obsessed with stories of revenge, Retro is on a more philosophical plane. The film wants to understand why anybody would engage or disengage with violence.

Scenes of bloody betrayal are interspersed with conversations on the Buddhist concept of dharma. These are also the moments in...

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