Laththi is an action drama film written and directed by Vinoth Kumar, and produced by Ramana and Nandha under the banner Rana Productions. The film has Vishal and Sunainaa in the lead roles while Ramana, Munishkanth, Prabhu, and others in supporting roles. Yuvan Shankar Raja has composed the music while Balasubramaniem and Balakrishna Thota are the cinematographers.
Muruganantham (Vishal) is a constable who leads a simple life with simple ambitions. He is termed as a Laththi specialist by his superiors, and a lockup torture results in him getting suspended for an year. Upon joining back, he gets into a tussle with Vella (Ramana), the son of a rowdy with influential political contacts. How does Muruganandham, a mere constable, save his family and defeat Vellai? That is what Laththi is all about.
Laththi starts off with clear, simple intentions. The initial sequences used to establish Muruganantham's love for his family are beautiful, and have its heart at the right place. Even though the visuals are shaky, it doesn't disturb us much. The film wants to stay grounded and it shows.
The issues for Laththi begin in the second half where the film shifts to almost a superhero mode. This means, the protagonist who, so far seemed to be an innocent man, suddenly takes heavy blows to his body, and fights against 100+ people at the same time. This tonal shift doesn't work out.
The action sequences, especially the 45-minute sequence in the construction site in the second half are well choreographed, and keep you gripped, but once the film enters into the 'superhero mode', we stop rooting for the lead and his family. The emotional connection gets lost. There are also plenty of logical loopholes that are glaring.
Vishal is rusty in a few scenes, but generally scores well with his performance. One scene to sample what a good actor he is, comes at the climax when he searches for his son. It is a scene that deserves a lot of praise for his performance. The rest of the cast are okay.
Technically, Yuvan's score works at a few places but the shaky' camera handheld shots in some fights don't help the film's cause. Overall, Laththi deserved a better written second half and better technical work. The gory violent nature of the action scenes might make family audiences uncomfortable, but if you are a fan of blood and top notch action, you can give this a one time watch.