Back in 2015, director Balaji Mohan and Dhanush collaborated for the commercial gangster flick Maari. The character was well received by the audience and managed to garner a cult following for the look, dialogues, and behavior. The team is back with the sequel Maari 2 and let's find out how the film is.

Maari 2 has Sai Pallavi playing the female lead while Krishna and Varalaxmi play important roles. Tovino Thomas is the antagonist of this sequel that has music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.

With Maari, director Balaji had established the kind of person Maari is, how he is treated by the people around him, how he values other relationships and so on. Therefore, in this film, we don't have a particular character arc for the lead. Instead, we're left to deal with a few new characters like Kalai (Krishna), Anandhi (Sai Pallavi), and Beeja: The God of Death (Tovino Thomas). The film is made on the typical commercial template with scenes shifting from action to comedy to romance to emotion, and repeat.

We get to sense that Balaji Mohan has tried hard to establish an almost-invincible villain to battle someone like Maari. But the problem arises when this is staged in a very artificial manner. Intimidating tattoos, making him read books of a certain kind and just making him repeat dialgoues in which he claims that he is the god of death makes it seem pretentious to an extent. Though it allows Maari to fall and rise and spices up the story, it is not thoroughly entertaining to watch. A more gripping revenge plot could have made this hero-villain drama a little more exciting.

The screenplay could have been constructed better without the predictable elements. However, there are quite a few pleasant surprises in the second half that showcase a different dimension of Maari. These portions could work for the larger audience. There's a friendship angle that again could come off as formulaic. The emotional additions are fresh for the franchise, but they could bring about a lag in some parts of the second half.

Yuvan Shankar Raja's songs have already become chartbusters. Rowdy Baby, in particular, is a winner in its own right. The song's placement, however, could prove to be a drawback in the first half. But it might seem to please a section of the viewers for its cheerfulness and dance choreography by Prabhu Deva. One may feel that Yuvan has handled the background score in his own style but it could have been more remarkable.

GK Prasanna's cuts are tidy and Om Prakash's cinematography is not too flashy. The fight sequences have been captured well and the lighting is worth a mention.

Finally, Dhanush as Maari is not what all this film is about. With the inclusion of many new characters, the weightage and pressure over Maari's characterization are reduced. Similar to its predecessor, Maari 2 has comedy scenes, mass moments, patterned stunts and some extra emotional spice. In all these, Dhanush owns the screen when he's at it.

Overall, Maari 2 will fit the tag of being an archetypal mass masala commercial potboiler. Only with smarter layers and fresher content, Maari 3 could be an interesting prospect.