That wait has lasted four long years, and unfortunately it looks like we'll have to continue waiting for a film that builds on Commando's reputation, rather than detracts from it. Producer Vipul Amritlal Shah and writer Ritesh Shah return to action for the second Commando film, and their motto appears to be more = better. In this rough continuation of the first film, Jamwal's Commando Karan Dogra is sent to Bangkok to round up one of India's biggest tax scofflaws and criminals, Vicky Chadha. The film is loosely based on the recent demonetization scheme from India's Prime Minister in which 80% of the nation's hard paper currency was deemed illegal in an attempt to ferret out cash stores of those involved in nefarious deeds. The new setting allows for ever more elaborate and ornate visuals after the first film's more than a little subdued jungle/village vibe. Karan has also gotten a promotion to high level agent of the Indian government and his own team of operatives. So, instead of the 'Army of One' of the first film, we now have a bunch of lesser sidekicks to deal with. This is the first problem with Commando 2, more does not equal better in this case, and the focus of the film becomes more and more diffuse as the story attempts to wrangle all of these characters.

The first film was able to harness the sheer power of Vidyut Jamwal by putting him as the very clear focus and primary driving narrative force. He's not a great actor, but he is a very competent performer given the right set of circumstances and a solid script that understands his abilities and limitations. In Commando 2 he's asked to helm a much more ambitious project - read: more expensive - and with that obligation came the desire of the filmmakers to crank everything up to eleven.

The problem is that they elements they decided to accentuate are not the elements that made the first film worth watching. Vidyut Jamwal is an incredible athlete and wonderfully talented martial artist, so the idea here should have been to accentuate those skills and focus more on the reason the audience bought the ticket in the fisrt place. Instead we get a sprawling story, extraneous characters who do nothing other than provide unnecessary comic relief, and the dilution of Jamwal's talent in the service of attempting to create a larger world for the character.

Commando 2 2017