VJS, YOGI BABU DELIVER THE LAUGHS IN THIS CHAOTIC AND CONVENIENT CAPER

N Ace, multiple things keep happening at the same time. There is so much chaos, and a lot more convenience. But it is that kind of film where we know everything will fall in place, simply because what's the point otherwise?

- AVINASH RAMACHANDRAN

N Ace, multiple things keep happening at the same time. There is so much chaos, and a lot more convenience. But it is that kind of film where we know everything will fall in place, simply because what's the point otherwise? When we watch Ocean's Eleven, we want the protagonists to steal and escape. Or closer home, when we watch Sadhuranga Vettai, we want the heist to be successful because it is cathartic to see a well-laid plan come into fruition despite all odds. Just like every Indian heist film, there is a larger reason for the protagonists to indulge in this crime, but writer-director Arumugakumar doesn't aim for the stars in Ace. His reason is simple, his heist is simpler, and the execution is simplest. Then what holds the film together? The chaos.

At one point in Ace, a dreaded loan shark Dharma (BS Avinash) is chasing Bolt Kannan (Vijay Sethupathi), Arivu (Yogi Babu), Kalpana (Divya Pillai) and Rukku (Rukmini Vasanth). Dharma's henchman channels his inner KGF voice and hypes up Kannan as this embodiment of courage and bravado. You know it is too much for the film and the character. But it comes just before the final hurrah, and the elevation of the hero is par for the course. We have grudgingly accepted this to be the norm. But this is a Vijay Sethupathi film, and there is a cool subversion to all of this. It makes you smile. And this is the biggest strength of Ace because there are enough little detours, random one-liners, slight tonal shifts, and minuscule bursts of energy to liven up the proceedings whenever it decides to coast instead of revving ahead.