Enemy is a film written and directed by Anand Shankar and produced by Vinod Kumar under the banner Mini Studios. The film has Arya and Vishal in the lead roles while Mirnalini Ravi, Prakash Raj, Thambi Ramaiah, Karunakaran and others play crucial supporting roles.
Rajiv (Arya) and Chozhan (Vishal) are childhood friends who are trained by Paari (Prakash Raj) to become police officers. However, circumstances separate them after Paari dies. 25 years later, one of them becomes good and the other gets involved in terror activities. Who comes up on top in this cat and mouse game forms the rest of the story.
The initial scenes of the film where the childhood versions of Arya and Vishal get trained - though short in time establish the characters really well. Their traits and intelligence levels are registered properly and is consistent throughout the film. In a way, this serves as a drawback too, because it makes both their character arcs monotonous.
Commercially, this film can satisfy you because of the superbly choreographed action sequences. Vishal and Arya, both look their part and sell their characters well. Prakash Raj, Karunakaran, and Thambi Ramaiah chip in with useful contributions and support the story well. All these roles do make an impact, irrespective of the screentime.
The film's screenplay suffers from predictability but still ends up engaging us. Some of the scenes in the first half look out of place but have relevance towards the end. But since they are out of place, they look forced, and we know that they are going to reappear as references in the second half.
Although the film looks like it's intelligently written on the surface level, when you go deeper, the flaws are glaring. A couple of songs in the first half also serve as speed breakers. The background score by Sam CS is impactful and helps the film punch above it's weight.
At a lot of places, it is the background score that keeps you engaged to the screen. While there's nothing novel or unique in the film, the way it has been packaged deserves praise. The climactic fight between Arya and Vishal is worth the hype and it is elevated by RD Rajasekhar's stunning camerawork and Raymond Derrick Crasta's slick editing.
Overall, the film works well technically and engages you well. The entertainment quotient is mostly fulfilled by the various action scenes and the film does justice to the action-drama genre. Vishal and Arya carry the film throughout on their shoulders and also save it from disappointing you. Though not a great film by any means, Enemy will satisfy you.