The hook for this one is a great trailer that promises a musical riff on 1987’s Predator. And that is a concept that took root in my subconscious and had me snagging a ticket to the very first show on opening day.
First thing: In the way that Indian cinema believes in covering as many genre bases as possible, Captain feels much more like a military drama with sci-fi and horror undertones — a SyFy original that just happens to be in subtitled Tamil. Second thing: Though there are sequences directly inspired by some of the twists and turns of Predator, the script’s pedigree also pivots into aspects of The Faculty and C.H.U.D.
There’s a moment when you feel like you’re going to get something akin to the remakes of Friday the 13th or My Bloody Valentine, where we’ll have two different sets of massacres before we even get into the film proper. Alas, what we get, ultimately, is a conventional action drama that feels very "been there, done that" for audiences who see a lot of movies. The most effective sequence comes very early on, as Captain Verti (Arya) and his squad do a strike mission that sheds an insane amount of blood, but impressively, maintains silence and grace for as long as possible, using ponds, rugs and Rube Goldberg-style gymnastic action to make sure nothing gets broken or splatters on the ground. Though stuffed with a degree of CG violence that seems incongruous with a lot of Indian cinema (where things tend not to get too violent until the second half), this sequence sets the bar fairly high for the future monster encounters, which makes for some internal dissonance when the script starts jumping around in time for some nonlinear revelations.
The monster herein, called in the subtitles “minotaur,” is distinctive, calling to mind both the Terrordogs from Ghostbusters and the Caeliferad ancestors from Quatermass and the Pit. They spit psychoactive poison and operate in symbiosis with scuttling superspiders that allow them to focus bio-radio waves in order to solve collective goals. And truthfully, their life cycle is complex enough that I wondered if the subtitles might be cutting a few corners.
Arya is an imposing physical presence — imagine Kane Hodder physicality with Adam Scott cheekbones — but he’s kind of uncharismatic. He can fight, he knows how to find his light, but he never feels at ease in front of the camera. Now, that could be a deliberate choice for this character; I’m unfamiliar with his other work, so I cannot say definitively, and the narrative foundation of Captain Vetri is that he’s an orphan who has only known the Indian Army as his family. He seems to mesh well enough with writer-director Shakti Soundar Rajan’s aesthetic, but the MVP here is Simran as the mysterious Doctor Keerthi. She’s giving Meg Foster business-suit vibes, and she’s absolutely the only member of the cast who seems to be having any fun (except for whoever is in charge of the spider puppet that we see in some end-credit behind-the-scenes footage).
That said, I find it impossible to turn my back completely on any film with a giant octopus battle. Your mileage may vary.
