Thunivu is a film written and directed by H. Vinoth and produced by Boney Kapoor under the banner Bayview Projects in association with Zee Studios. The film has Ajith Kumar and Manju Warrier in the lead roles while Samuthirakani, John Kokken, GM Sundar, Dharshan, Mohana Sundaram, Bagavathi, and others in supporting roles. The music is composed by Ghibran while the cinematography is handled by Nirav Shah.
A heist takes place in a bank in Chennai and minutes later, the attackers are taken down by Ajith Kumar, who in turn decides to rob the bank. The rest of the film deals with the intention and backstory behind Ajith's heist and whether it is successful or not.
Right from the first frame, director H. Vinoth is clear about what he wants to do with a superstar like Ajith and gives us a banger of an intro that would send any audience into a frenzy. Especially Ajith imitating Michael Jackson and dancing inside the bank are moments that make you hoot and whistle. The entire first half is filled with such sequences.
However, once the second half begins, the film starts unloading a lot of social information on the audience while the entertainment takes a backseat. There are only a couple of songs so that doesn't disturb the film's flow much, but the screenplay could have been more engaging in the second half. Thunivu also runs out of twists a little early making the fag end of the film slightly predictable.
The second half is filled with guns, guns, and more guns, but a little emotional connection would have been better. There's a subplot involving Darshan, and that tries to emotionally appeal to the audience. However, the issue that's being addressed takes centerstage and leaves no room for other elements.
Ajith breeds swagger in every frame and the action sequences pack a punch. This could easily be one of the best roles written for him after Mankatha. It was refreshing to see Manju Warrier not being reduced to a romantic partner, but instead having her own moments throughout. The rest of the cast, Samuthirakani and GM Sundar in special make their presence felt.
On the technical front, Ghibran's background score works really well. The couple of songs that appear are catchy and the Gangsta theme is better along with the visuals. Nirav Shah offers a high visual quality with his frames and is one of the pillars of the film. The way a few sequences are choreographed by Peter Hein deserves praise.
Overall, Thunivu has enough in the first half to satisfy Ajith fans and families while the second half could have been handled better comparatively. As of now, the film ends up as a good watch for the festival.