Valimai HD Released

 H Vinoth's Valimai begins with a series of chain-snatching incidents and smuggling committed by masked men on bikes in Chennai. The public is up in arms against the police force, who are clueless. In an internal monologue, the police chief (Selva) wishes for a super cop to prevent such crimes. The action then cuts to Madurai, where a temple procession is underway.then we are introduced to ACP Arjun (Ajith Kumar), the film’s protagonist, whose introduction is intercut with scenes from the procession. Like a God who is held up high, we see this character rising up from the depths. In short, a whistle-worthy hero-introduction scene.

We expect that Vinoth has done away with the mandatory fan service given his star's stature and will get around to making the film he wanted to make. And it does seem so for a while when Arjun gets posted to Chennai and starts investigating a suicide case that seems connected to the chain-snatching and drug-smuggling cases from before. Like in his previous cop film, the relentless Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru, the director throws at us his research and while the detailing seems impressive, there is a sense of deja vu as much of it is something we have seen in films like Metro, Chakra and Marainthirunthu Parkkum Marmam Enna. And we get sentimentalism when he insists on showing us the fate of the victims, which feels redundant.

Even as Arjun starts going after the leads, the gang's mastermind (Kartikeya Gummakonda) realises that the cop is on to him, and things turn into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, in which Arjun's family become pawns. Can Arjun save both his family and the city from this dangerous criminal?

It's a clash between stunts and sentiment in Valimai, a somewhat engaging but overlong action movie that hides its simplistic writing with elaborate action set-pieces. We keep getting a sense of Vinoth trying hard to strike a balance between making a gritty action movie and satisfying the demands of a star vehicle, with message, sentiment, and 'mass' moments. Despite the story having scope for rooting the action scenes in emotion, he is content with treating them as just standalone set-pieces.