Jailer 2 Reviews: Rajinikanth Wins, the Villains Do Not

Critics have mostly agreed on one thing about Jailer 2, which opened on Oct. 15: the first half is the film's best stretch, and Rajinikanth carries it. They have split on how much the second half costs the film. Nelson Dilipkumar's sequel is a Sun Pictures release in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, and it runs about 2 hours 45 minutes in Filmfare's listing and 165 minutes in The Hindu's.

What the film is

Rajinikanth returns as Tiger Muthuvel Pandian. Filmfare lists Ramya Krishnan, Yogi Babu, S. J. Suryah, Vidya Balan, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Mohanlal and Shivarajkumar in the cast. The Hindu says the story begins with Muthuvel living quietly in a hill town with his wife, his grandson and his daughter-in-law. A run-in with a municipal officer pulls him back into a fight with a statue-smuggling syndicate.

Where critics agree

The Hindu's Bhuvanesh Chandar is the warmest of the five reviews we read. He writes that Nelson almost perfects the mass-masala formula of the first film, knows when to let Rajinikanth loose, and fills the gaps with humour. Filmfare's Rohit Panikker also praises the first half, singling out Namo Narayana's scenes with Yogi Babu as the funniest in the film, and calls the action choreography one of its strongest assets.

Rediff's Sreeju Sudhakaran calls the film an enjoyable fanboy experience. He praises the staging of Rajinikanth's entrances, the bridge sequence and Anirudh's score, and says Nelson plays to the star's aura while keeping his age in mind.

Where they split

The disagreement is about the villains and the second half. Filmfare says the screenplay gets crowded as new characters arrive, and that S. J. Suryah's mannerisms threaten to turn his performance into a caricature. Rediff says the Kalpak family, who take over the second half, never live up to the evil the film promises, and that the tension is largely ineffectual. Deccan Chronicle's headline calls the film a forced, substance-less sequel with a few laughs, and The News Minute's headline says it offers more of the same with less fun.

Several reviewers single out the cameos. Filmfare names Mohanlal, Shivarajkumar, Jackie Shroff and Mithun Chakraborty. Rediff says Hrithik Roshan's cameo drew the loudest cheers in its screening, and that Jackie Shroff is underused. Both reviews say the cameos are staged for star appeal and add little to the plot.

How it compares

The Hindu frames the film against Rajinikanth's recent run, saying the post-streaming audience has reshaped what a Rajini film needs to be. Rediff compares the film with Petta and Jailer on the entertaining side and Coolie on the atrocious side, and places Jailer 2 in the middle. That is the reviewer's judgement, not a consensus.

What to take from it

If you liked the first Jailer, the reviews suggest you will get enough of what you came for. If you want a second half that matches the first, they suggest lowering expectations. Rediff also flags several scenes it found uncomfortable, including a sequence in which Muthuvel behaves inappropriately towards a female villain, and says Nelson struggles to write women well. Other reviewers we read did not make that point.

What we could not confirm

We read five reviews in full or in part, and not all of them in full. We could not confirm an overall critic average, because we found no aggregator score for the film. We have not seen the film ourselves. Runtime differs between outlets, 165 minutes in The Hindu and 2 hours 45 minutes in Filmfare, and we do not know which matches the certified print. We also could not verify the cameo list beyond what the reviewers name.

Sources

*Cover photo: Vice President's Secretariat, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rajinikanth_being_honored_with_Dadasaheb_Phalke_Award.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rajinikanth_being_honored_with_Dadasaheb_Phalke_Award.jpg)* (GODL-India).*