Don 2 Movie Review

I had to go for an early morning show at the CINEMAX. I reached on time, but there was a long queue. I fought with many, saying that i had booked online and i just needed to collect the ticket. But i couldnt go through them. Finally 20 minutes after the start of the movie i entered and got into my seat, cursing and irritated. So here the story begins, and DON 2 had to really stand upto my irritation levels, which i am not sure, but could have influenced a teeny tiny part in my review.
By the time i started seeing, the whole trailer visuals were all over, and i missed the "Aap mere maa ko nahi jaante" part. Now Don is out, and the chase had begun. Now from there till the interval there was not much on the screen that really blew your mind or got you interested, except when "another" Star comes for his cameo. I didnt know this guy was there in the movie, and so it was a sweet surprise(Thanks to my friends who saw the movie before and didnt spill the beans). But the problem now was that SRK looked bad as DON. The whole first half therefore came as a disappointment, and i wondered if it could get better. I started cursing Farhan.
But it does get better. The second half is full of action. And SRK returns to his elements, and Farhan finds his writing skills also. The most amazing part of this movie is its high technical standards, and the movie could easily be passed of as a Hollywood movie, in its treatment. Not RAone, not even RoBot, but yes, this one.It clearly steers off the traditional Indian colourful screen concept, but doesnt look too down to earth in its tone either. And the 3D was world class too. So technically the movie scores a wonderful 10 on 10 from me.
Farhan tries to seal the climax the usual DON way with some interesting twists and surprises, but i think the audiences( or a few atleast) have been watching too many of this thriller stuff, that they already kind of know in advance the options for the climax. All they have to find out is which of these options the director chooses to end with. DON 1 climax did surprise me, but not here. Maybe the reason is that in DON 1 the director did not give any 'build-up' about the twist in the climax, but here in this movie, there is so much being prepared to create a climax out of it. So audiences would start their guessing game. And the climax that they have made, was surely my first option of how the movie should end.
Farhans efforts are seen in the movie, but so are his short comings.His intentions to create a modern and international heist adventure were good, but somewhere he still cannot forget his textbooks on the indian way of filmmaking with invincible heroes.
Sharukh Khan, the so called KING. The first thing i noticed was why is his hair still in RA One mode??? The more i saw him, it brought me recollections of the Sharukh in RAOne and interestingly for me in one particular scene, SRk in My Name is Khan. It seemed like in the first half SRK was trying too much to be 'DON'ly  stylish. But somehow it vanishes in the second half, and you see  SRK in better control of the character. His sarcasms towards Priyanka's character, and the pretentious romantic chemistry, somehow works well. But well, the film never really stays away from SRK for longer than, say .... five seconds. Thats another place where the film fails. In a movie like this the importance of an ensemble cast is much more. Simon Pegg, Laura Patton, Jeremy Reinner from the MI4 is one example.(OK i just recently watched the MI4, which could also be a factor of influence in my review).
Priyanka's character has very little to do, and in first half she is almost over shadowed by Lara. But second half sees more of her, and yes she does justice to her part. Lara's presence did not matter much. Kunal Kapoor seemed very unfitting in his role. He is a tall smart guy who can do some bashing up. Not the geek who sits behind a computer. It should have been done by some college boy, who can pretend to be like a child in front of Don. Very stereotypical, YES! But it had to be either that or it had to be one good solid scene for establishing Kunal. Boman Irani is good, but his role doesnt do justice to him. Om puri too doesnt have much to do.
The biggest flaw in the movie which was technically good, and had a script which had good intentions of being a big draw, was that like all or most Indian movies, the villain is so weak against the hero. The hero never gets beaten. Just comparing this thought here with Nolan's Batman, and you can see why that is a better movie.
The music was not exceptional, and neither was the BGM. S-E-L didnt work this time. Most of it was just a rework of Don 1.And what was with all those graphics in the lara dutta song? The smoke, the fire and rubbish. It looked really bad and done by amateurs. There i cut one point for the technical goodness. Its just 9/10 now.
I would say this movie is better than some of the hollywood robbery flicks like the Ocean's 12, and maybe Ocean's 13 too. But it doesn't become a great movie. Now without considering the twenty minutes i missed in the start, I would give it a 7.5 out of 10 for the whole effort.