The starting is delightful - the Alpha Male, with long, beaded hair whizzes past a hairpin bend... on a yacht. SRK has never looked this menacing before. He walks with a swagger, tucks a tuft of hair behind his ear as it comes in the way before he goes for the Kill. He oozes style, and doesn't want to soil his Whites by kneeling down on his knees. Nobody can resist his charms, least of all Roma Bhagat, a Police Officer who surprisingly still holds her post 5 years after screwing up a major mission.
Cut to 10 minutes later - Don loses his hair, and in an eerie Samson-like manner, lost his powers to enthrall the audience. We slip back into deja-vu, watching yet another bank heist being planned and executed with some mandatory twists and turns. It doesn't matter if the story is not predictable - you actually expect the unpredictability, which means that by the time it ends, you realize you didn't care in the first place.
Don 2 is sleek, stylish and much more Hollywood than Bollywood, but it fails where Don triumphed - an absolutely zany story. The double crosses, the Hero vs the Anti Hero track, the "Ohh F**k !!" kind of climax. And who can forget the beautiful remixes and Kareena Kapoor's dazzling item number. This one has only 2 songs, and the better one comes while you are trying to find your way out of the theater. Priyanka Chopra was acting like a junglee billi in this one, and I was drudging my way to the Exit, half-curious and half-ashamed at taking more time to leave than the others.
When I first got to know that Farhan Akhtar's going for a sequel, I set up extremely high - and perhaps unrealistic expectations. I imagined another star who counters the Don in the climax. Previously it was SRK vs SRK. I could barely hide my excitement when I thought who all they could pit against him. Sadly, no such theatrics. You already know the grind - it's SRK all the way, and somehow he is going to screw everybody he wants to. There are car chases, there's an Ethan Hunt - MI 1 style hang-from-the-ceiling, but strong execution rarely saves a thin storyline.
Go with an open mind for this one, and you will enjoy. Expect the world, and you might be disappointed. Even though the flick does traverse half the world atleast.
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