Gandhi (Vijay) is a member of the Special Anti-Terrorist Squad (SATS). He hides his field from his family and leads a happy life. However, because of his profession, he faces an unexpected tragedy in his life and quits from his duty. The rest of the narrative is about how Menon ( Mohan), Gandhi’s old nemesis, troubles him and what does Jeevan (Gandhi), son of Gandhi, hide from his father.
Vijay did a fantastic job in both roles and carried the entire film on his shoulders by showing the required variations. His screen presence and mannerisms will enthrall his fans. Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Ajmal Ameer, and Mohan perform appropriately while Meenakshi Chaudhary, Sneha, and Laila were okay.
Director Venkat Prabhu is known for picking up unusual and exciting concepts. For The GOAT, he took a a proved and tested storyline and presented in a grand scale. He was successful in providing the maximum screen space and performance scope for his Hero Vijay, and he gave importance to the other roles at a few crucial junctures as well. Though Venkat Prabhu tried his best to make the film big by setting up several characters and twists, he could have done a much better job with regard to handling the key emotional aspect of the film.
Thalapathy Vijay’s performance and screen presence is definitely the main plus point of the film. Though the narration has some occasional drops along with predictable traits, director Venkat Prabhu could get the needed effect in crucial scenes. For example, the pre interval and interval episodes provide the required effect and some critical moments in the second half along with the last 20 mins work well for the film.
The story of the film is routine, and the twists are placed just for the namesake. The character development of Menon could have been dealt with better. Moreover, Venkat Prabhu failed to get the required emotional impact with the backstory of Jeevan which could have established why he became so cruel. The crucial revelation at the pre climax was also handled ordinarily. Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music is weak only one song in the second half being good, and the background score was bad.
