Mark Antony: An absurdly clever mindbender that's fun for most part

Cast: Vishal, SJ Suryah, Suneel, Ritu Varma

Synopsis: An auto mechanic (Mark) wants to escape his checkered life and gets a ‘unbelievable’ opportunity to turn things around, but is blindsided by demons from the past

Director: Adhik Ravichandran

Music Director : GV Prakash

Rating: 3/5

Vishal and SJ Suryah-starrer "Mark Antony" is among the rare-breed of unconventional sci-fi comedies that's sure about what it is and what it should do.

The premise is neatly laid out 15 minutes into the start.

An obsessive tinkerer (Selvaraghavan) succeeds in building a telephone to communicate with people from the past, both living and dead. He even jots down the features and limitations of the phone. In a turn of events, Mark (Vishal), an auto mechanic, comes into possession of this phone. Privy to the secret of the device, Mark attempts to rewrite his history, and in turn, his future. Mark's bid to right the wrongs incurs the wrath of a few people. Whether he walks out of this mess unscathed is what Mark Antony is all about.

To put things into perspective, Mark happens to be the stepson of Jackie Pandian (SJ Suryah), an underworld kingpin, and a friend of Mark's father, once-dreaded gangster Antony (also played by Vishal). Jackie keeps his foster son on a high pedestal and scorns his freewheeling son Madan (also SJ Suryah) who is keen on inheriting his father's empire but doesn't have the necessary chops. Jackie wants to keep Mark under his protection since the latter is beset by the same perils that once chased his father. Mark, on the other hand, wants to leave his past behind. The narrative moves in a steady pace as it chronicles Jackie's largesse and Mark's reluctance. The character arcs that begin on a seemingly flat note at the start, undergo changes following the arrival of the device. The plot isn't hard to predict, but the crisp editing keeps predictability at bay.

Mark Antony is easily Vishal's best film in recent times. The writing and terrific performances of the Vishal-SJ Suryah combine are the highlights. SJ Suryah, like in most of his films, has taken his acting to another plane. It is a wise decision on Adhik's part to have written all the scenes where at least one of the two actors are present. Both the actors had in them the goods of translating the director's quirky and absurd vision into reality. Adhik's retro look and feel, and sensibilities will be talked about for long.

The supporting crew: Suneel, Y Gee Mahendra and Redin Kingsley have done a neat work, aiding the two central characters. Ritu Varma is underused, although her portions help with humour. The romantic track is disappointing. GV Prakash is not at his best as the songs are just about okay. However, his wacky remix of some retro tracks used in the background could turn out to be the next 'vibe material' on social media.

On the flip-side, the narrative of a time-bending phone is a bit overused owing to the runtime. To add to it, there are incongruencies with regard to the time period the phone connects to and the age of the characters. But then, we aren't really talking about adherence to concepts such as the 'paradox of predestination' that have found its way into popular lexicon thanks to Hollywood flicks like Terminator and Back to The Future. All said and done, the film makes for an entertaining weekend watch.