The shift to romance in tamil movies has had one victim. The masala movie. Such movies were the staple of tamil cinema in the eighties with every other movie featuring the hero as a police officer who brought nasty criminals to book. Vijayakanth acted in several such roles with movies like Pulan Visaaranai and Captain Prabhakaran setting the cash registers ringing. Vallarasu is a throwback to that bygone era. With Vijayakanth as a police officer, I was all ready for an entertaining, stunt-filled thrill ride. But what I got was a movie that showed real promise at several points with surprising twists and clever plot devices but was unable to provide any kind of adrenaline rush for an extended period.

Vijayakanth must by now be a firm believer in the adage "When it rains, it pours". The actor went through a long, lean phase in his career without a single, substantial hit since Chinna Gounder. But Vallarasu now completes a hattrick of hits for him after Kannu Padappogudhaiyaa and Vaanathai Pola. While the last two were village movies with emphasis on sentiments and emotions, Vallarasu is an out-and-out masala movie, a genre where he faced several flops(like Alexander) during the last few years. Its success clearly confirms his miraculous comeback, marking another new high in his career.

Vallarasu(Vijayakanth) is the deputy commissioner of police who has arrested Wasim Khan(Mukesh Rishi), a terrorist from Pakistan. He lives with his wife Anjali(Devayani) and two children and is upright enough to kill his own superior when he realises that he is supporting anti-national elements. With the help of four youth, who are disillusioned by their inability to join the police force, Vallarasu goes after R.Kandasamy(P.Vasu), a rich man who is behind the attempts to destabilise the country.

The film offers several clever moments that point to some good thinking on the part of the director. The ruse Vijayakanth uses to save Sriman from the criminals who are following him and the way he disperses the crowd in front of his house when he has arrested P.Vasu are two such moments. This leads to a sense of anticipation as to how Vijayakanth is going to clear his hurdles and most of the time, we are not disappointed. But there is more brain than brawn since moments like this dominate the movie rather than real stunts. There are almost no one-on-one fights and even possible fights fizzle out soon. A real disappointment especially since earlier Vijayakanth movies like Captain Prabhakaran and Chatriyan had some of the best fight sequences ever seen in tamil movies.

The dialogs are a mixed bag. Vijayakanth indulges in long bouts of philosophizing on issues like caste. And there are several pieces of dialogs targeted at his fans which are tough to sit through unless you are one. But the long speech he makes to his superiors regarding the actions of the police is impassioned and contains several good points. Similarly, the couple of occasions where he turns the table on P.Vasu by repeating the same dialogs that Vasu uttered(like the one about a bullet hitting an unintended target) are enjoyable. The way Vijayakanth deals with the leaders of two caste factions also brings a smile to our lips.

Song sequences are forcibly inserted into the proceedings and are unnecessary speedbumps to the flow. Worse, they are picturised very unimaginatively. Vadivelu's 'gana' song (thankfully, he appears only for the one song) with a skimpily clad dancer is the worst of the lot. The two duets have Vijayakanth appearing in some very brightly colored costumes including one that features the logo of his fan club. In fact, the second duet deserves to come with a warning message that usually accompanies solar eclipses - "Do not look straight at these costumes. They might damage your eyes!"

Vijayakanth looks trimmer but still seems a little heavyweight for the role. He seems to be doing a Rajnikanth, right from the graphics for showing his name to the double entendre dialogs about his fans and politics to the Baasha-like background music whenever he walks in slow-motion. Devayani does what she can with the role of the wife in an action movie. P.Vasu is impressive in his first time in front of the camera. His dialog delivery is especially effective. The movie is littered with a lot of known faces in minor supporting roles. Apart from Vadivelu, we have Raghuvaran as a police officer, Ambika as his wife, Livingston as a CBI officer, Karan as a youth who helps Vijayakanth and Mansoor Ali Khan as the leader of a caste faction. Eternal punching bag Ponnambalam plays a good guy for a change but still ends up on the receiving end of blows!

It will be a good thing indeed for lovers of action if the success of Vallarasu leads to more masala movies in tamil. Hopefully, they will stick to the task at hand and result in movies that are more professionally-made than this one.