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‘Pathaan’ Review: Fighting the Good (and Long) Fight

Filled to the brim with action set pieces, “Pathaan” stars Shah Rukh Khan as a secret agent saving India from havoc unleashed by a vengeful former operative.

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By Nicolas Rapold

The all-out action movie of the sort honed by Hollywood is not as prevalent in Bollywood. But “Pathaan,” a record-setting addition to a series of spy adventures, rolls out a flaming dessert cart of chugging guns, midair melees and ceaseless showdowns.

Shah Rukh Khan stars as an affable Indian government agent, Pathaan, who’s pursuing a vengeful former agent named — somewhat less than diabolically — Jim (John Abraham). Jim’s been hired by a rogue Pakistani general to sow havoc in India because of a dispute over Kashmir. He turned smirkingly nihilistic after India once refused to pay ransom for him and his (now dead) pregnant wife.

Plotting or politics is an afterthought in this delivery system for action on planes, trains and automobiles, in Dubai, Moscow, Paris, the Spanish coast and apparently the Italian Dolomites. The director, Siddharth Anand (“War”), opens big with Pathaan’s breakout from detainment, swiveling the camera to follow kicks and sending a helicopter aloft indoors.

Other setups have the same top-this sense of fun. Anand’s crew boasts the stunt coordinator of “Top Gun: Maverick,” Casey O’Neill, and the “Mad Max: Fury Road” stunt performer Craig Macrae. But the director doesn’t have the greatest feel for tempo, or a consistent flair for staging. A monotonous fight on a train is only redeemed by a Looney Tunes escape from derailment.

Lending welcome panache is Deepika Padukone as another deadly operative, Rubina, who may prove helpful to Pathaan. The sweet rapport between Padukone and Khan loosens up the film’s endless fracas, and it’s the spark for, yes, a song. When Pathaan spots Rubina poolside in Spain, she launches a joyful crowded bump-and-grind number. (“The moment I feel a wave of modesty, I throw it to the wind!”)

As a villain, Jim’s a bit of a cold bath, and not just because he starts video-calling in threats of biological warfare. “Pathaan” is in some ways a save-the-world superhero movie without suits, and while less self-serious, the hefty length can lag. More is not always better — though the gusto of Padukone speedskating to the rescue at one point goes a long way.

Pathaan Not rated. In Hindi, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 26 minutes. In theaters.

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An Indian agent races against a doomsday clock as a ruthless mercenary, with a bitter vendetta, mounts an apocalyptic attack against the country. An Indian agent races against a doomsday clock as a ruthless mercenary, with a bitter vendetta, mounts an apocalyptic attack against the country. An Indian agent races against a doomsday clock as a ruthless mercenary, with a bitter vendetta, mounts an apocalyptic attack against the country.

• Siddharth Anand
• Shridhar Raghavan
• Abbas Tyrewala
• Shah Rukh Khan
• Deepika Padukone
• John Abraham
• 881 User reviews
• 57 Critic reviews
• 47 Metascore
• 10 wins & 44 nominations

• Colonel Luthra

• Tiger (Cameo Appearance)

• Dr. Farooqui
• Young Rubai
• Rubai's Father
• Rubai's Mother

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• Trivia Shah Rukh Khan's comeback film after four years since Zero 2018.
• Goofs When Deepika picks Uncle Grigor hand and puts it on her upper leg to steal his hand print, he didn't feel that it is not the bare skin of a human body and rather a polythene film he is touching.

Pathaan : A soldier does not ask what the country has done for him. Asks what he can do for the country.

• Crazy credits The Yash Raj Films logo is on the side of a grey box that reads "YRF Spy Universe."
• Alternate versions The UK release was cut, the distributor chose to make cuts to scenes of strong violence in order to obtain a 12A classification. An uncut 15 classification was available.
• Connections Featured in Movie Reviews: Pathaan (2023)
• Soundtracks Besharam Rang (Hindi) Music by Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani Lyrics by Kumaar , Vishal Dadlani (Spanish lyrics) Performed by Shilpa Rao , Caralisa Monteiro , Vishal Dadlani , Shekhar Ravjiani

User reviews 881

• soumyasinghss
• Mar 8, 2023
• How long is Pathaan? Powered by Alexa
• January 25, 2023 (United States)
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Yash Raj Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $17,487,476
• Jan 29, 2023
• $128,780,000

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 26 minutes
• Dolby Surround 7.1
• Dolby Atmos
• IMAX 6-Track

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‘Pathaan’: Review

By Namrata Joshi 2023-01-25T15:02:00+00:00

Bollywood emerges victorious from a troubled time with Shah Rukh Khan returning to the big screen as a Bond-like action hero

Source: Yashraj Films

Dir: Siddharth Anand. India. 2023. 146mins

Much like its three predecessors in the YRF Spy Universe series of action thrillers — EK The Tiger (2012), Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) and War (2019) — Pathaan pivots on a wafer-thin plot; this time involving an exiled intelligence agent returning to take on a terrorist organisation. It’s a chaotic, protracted, wild ride that takes the audience across global locations and through past and present, but the amped up scale, imagination and audacity, the spectacular action set-pieces, clever writing and in-your-face charisma of its stars including Shah Rukh Khan in a long-awaited return to the big screen make it, in Indian parlance,  paisa vasool -  a film well worth the price of admission. And that will come as a relief to an embattled Bollywood.

Star Shah Rukh Khan, otherwise known for his romantic persona, shows off his bare chest and rippling muscles and, in the process, scorches the screen as a full-blown action hero.

A lot is at stake when it comes to Pathaan , produced — like the previous titles in the series — by leading production house Yashraj Films. The Hindi film industry has struggled over the last few years, with big budget films failing to make a mark at the box office and political baiting by conservative fringe groups. As the reportedly $30m-plus  Pathaan opens worldwide (with both Hindi and Tamil and Telugu versions screening within India) hopes are high for its prospects, although success will largely rely on audiences turning up on India’s Republic Day holiday and the following long weekend. It’s Shah Rukh Khan’s first major role since Aanand L. Rai’s Zero in 2018, and that should help. Plus, there have already been multiple controversies to keep it in the public eye, including the colour of a bikini worn by SRK’s co-star Deepika Padukone.

In keeping with the occasion of the release, Pathaan sports a suitably patriotic heart with the Indian tricolour fluttering in some scenes and the salutation of Jai Hind  (“Victory to India”) punctuating a few conversations. The film is also very much in line with the unbridled masculine narratives currently dominating Indian mainstream cinema: SRK may be best known for his romantic on-screen persona but he falls in line here, showing off his bare chest and rippling muscles and, in the process, scorching the screen as a full-blown action hero.

He plays exiled intelligence agent Pathaan, brought back on duty to take on rogue agent Jim (John Abraham) who is running a private terrorist enterprise called Outfit X and is armed with a biological weapon of mass destruction, a virus called Raktbeej (a reference to a demon in Hindu mythology who supposedly self-perpetuates with every drop of his blood that falls on the ground). 

But while there’s plenty that puts Pathaan in the league of James Bond movies — including excellent action sequences, stunning global locales (UAE, Turkey, Russia, Siberia, Italy, France, Afghanistan and Siberia) and Deepika Padukone’s novice Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agent Rubina Mohsin — Pathaan himself isn’t simply smart and suave. He cries, he gives into love and cracks silly jokes about getting his long hair shampooed at the hairdressers. The robbery of a Moscow vault is punctuated, for example, with a silly but satisfying reference to SRK’s psychopath act in the popular film Darr (1993).

Pathaan plays safe with its stance — or the lack of it — on the contentious issue of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Yet its nationalistic spirit comes underlined with grace and dignity. Pathaan’s adversary might be from Pakistan but the film underscores that a few bad men don’t embody an entire nation. An orphan left behind by his parents in a cinema hall, Pathaan finds a proxy family on one of his missions in Afghanistan. His heart is Indian, but he belongs to the world — a welcome return to the simplistic but humanistic nationalism of Hindi cinema.

Most enjoyable, however, are the meta moments on the plight of Bollywood and the trinity of Khans: SRK, Salman and Aamir. There is, for instance, an extended reference to the Japanese art of kintsugi — fixing broken pieces of pottery with gold to create an even more beautiful and precious work of art. In the film, it is used to discuss bringing together injured, unwell and retired agents to form a new unit called Joint Operations and Covert Research. Yet it could also be a reference to Bollywood itself; a hope that it may come out stronger and more resilient after its ongoing trial by fire. After a long time, Shah Rukh Khan has given Bollywood a reason to smile.

Production company: Yashraj Films 

Distribution: Yashraj Films [email protected]

Producer: Aditya Chopra

Screenplay: Shridhar Raghavan, from a story by Siddharth Anand and dialogue by Abbas Tyrewala 

Cinematography: Satchith Paulose

Production Design: Rajat Poddar

Editing: Aarif Sheikh

Music: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani, Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara, 

Main cast: Shah Rukh Khan (SRK), Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia, Ashutosh Rana

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Pathaan Review: Shah Rukh Khan Doesn't Miss A Trick In Phenomenally Entertaining Spy Thriller

Pathaan review: deepika padukone pulls off the dual act of an irrepressible femme fatale and a committed soldier with elan..

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham

Director: Siddharth Anand

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Phenomenally entertaining and consistently engaging, Pathaan , for all the derivative genre components it compiles, is a spy thriller that crackles with energy. It goes the distance riding on the insouciant and cocky charm that Shah Rukh Khan, in his first full-fledged appearance on the big screen since 2018's Zero , brings to an exercise that is at once excessive and exciting.

It isn't, however, the superstar alone who propels Pathaan, which plays to the gallery with abandon. The writing by Shridhar Raghavan is smart although not everything in the unabashedly fantastical film makes total sense. Abbas Tyrewala, who peppers Pathaan with gunpowder-dry punch lines, contributes in no small measure to keeping this action-packed movie on the boil all the way till the end.

On the technical side, too, Pathaan packs a massive punch. The cinematography by Satchith Paulose is from the topmost drawer. Editor Aarif Sheikh lends the film a pacy rhythm that leaves no room for dull passages. And the pulpy panache of Siddharth Anand's directorial sleights is impressive. They combine to make Pathaan a thoroughly riveting movie that instantly gets the willing suspension of disbelief that it demands and thrives on. 

The ease is, of course, facilitated majorly by the presence of Shah Rukh Khan, who does not miss a trick in jettisoning his King of Romance persona and donning the garb of an unflappable, unstoppable action hero. He does not let the effort behind the transition show one bit. He sails through the role and the film as if this is what he was always meant to do.

The performances from most of the other principal actors - Deepika Padukone, Dimple Kapadia and Ashutosh Rana - are perfectly in tune with the style and substance of Pathaan. The film hits its straps without wasting any time. The actors, especially Deepika Padukone, do likewise, getting into the swing of things in a jiffy.   

The heroine of Pathaan is an ISI agent with a back story that makes her the inscrutable and unpredictable person she is. Her enigma ensnares the hero more than once and provides the film's biggest twists. Deepika Padukone pulls off the dual act of an irrepressible femme fatale and a committed soldier with elan.  

However, John Abraham as the very, very bad guy who has a score to settle with the nation he once served with distinction does not exude the level of menace that you would expect from a man wounded and incensed to the point of insanity.     The most striking aspect of Pathaan , a masala entertainer at heart, is that it has the gumption to go beyond the parameters of a massy movie and produce sharp, insightful moments that serve as a commentary on pressing issues of the day. It is far more about humanity than about shallow patriotism, which, coming at a time when the Mumbai movie industry thrives on the othering and demonising of communities to further a dominant political narrative, is an act of courage that deserves to be celebrated. 

Although it is essentially about people going for the jugular and centres on a villain who plans to unleash a biological weapon on civilians, Pathaan adopts a pacifist approach to war and espionage. It offers a counter-narrative to the Islamophobic thrillers and historical epics that the Mumbai industry has of late been dumping upon the audience without the slightest attempt to disguise its prejudices and propensity for falsification. 

Pathaan is in fact a far cry from Yash Raj Films' previous spy drama War, which was also directed by Siddharth Anand. Pathaan is neither jingoistic nor does it direct all its ire at one nation. It does open with a Pakistani general plotting a reprisal against India on the day of the revocation of Article 370, but the villain of the film is not a hate-spewing mullah but a venomous RAW agent gone rogue.

Although the badman's reasons are palpably faulty, he contributes his mite to the discourse that Pathaan engages in. A mercenary who works on behalf of terrorists no matter of what hue they are, he says he does not believe in the notion of a nation and borders do not matter to him. Nations and borders are created by the powerful to lull people into submission, he thunders, implying that he has broken the shackles in order to make a point.  

Jim (John Abraham), whose first appearance on the screen triggers a violent confrontation with a hero who grew up in an orphanage and owes a debt of gratitude to an Afghan family that saved him after a secret mission left him severely wounded.

When asked by Dr. Rubina Mohsin (Deepika Padukone) if he is a Mussalman (this is the only time in the film that anybody's religious identity is broached), the male protagonist reveals that he does not know who his parents were.  The nation assumed the form of a mother and sustained me, so I decided to serve the nation the way I would have served my mother if I had one, he asserts with just a hint of emotion.

He isn't a steely hero who is beyond injury and pain. He needs a painkiller when violent adversaries inflict wounds on his body. The medicine is offered to him by another member of the YRF Spy Universe in the course of a fight sequence staged in a hurtling train somewhere in Russia.

With Shah Rukh Khan joining Tiger (Salman Khan) and Kabir (Hrithik Roshan) to complete a trio of invincible YRF spies, expect a lot of big-screen explosions, extremes and extravagances in the coming years. But it is doubtful if anything would be as big, ballsy or unalloyed as Pathaan. It comes closer to what mass-oriented Hindi cinema once used to be than any other recent star vehicle has done. 

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Pathaan swings and strikes with all the style and aplomb in the world. It will be a hard act to follow.                     

Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham

Siddharth Anand

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‘Pathaan’ Review: A Bollywood Espionage Action Spectacular So Fast and Furious — and Chaotic and Derivative — It Makes ‘RRR’ Look Classical

It's James Bond meets Jason Bourne meets Jason Statham meets Fabio in an overwrought epic.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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“ Pathaan ,” the new Bollywood espionage action spectacular, opened wide this past weekend in the U.S., where it amassed an impressive tally of $9.5 million. That’s exactly what “RRR” made on its opening weekend in the U.S. close to a year ago — though, of course, that was before “RRR” went on to become a crossover cultural phenomenon, with a visibility and acclaim in the American media that Indian films seldom, if ever, attain.

For decades, Bollywood movies, at least when they were released here, had an undeniable exoticism. They often repackaged Hollywood forms, most notably the musical, but with their own rhythm and flavor and spice. Baz Luhrmann drew upon the rapture of Bollywood when he made “Moulin Rouge!,” and films like “Lagaan” (2001), a transporting three-hour-and-45-minute class-war operetta about a cricket match (it was the last Indian film before “RRR” to be nominated for an Academy Award), and “Dangal” (2016), a wrestling epic rooted in the rising mores of girl power, had inspirational plots that staked out their own nationalistic identity.

The characters in “Pathaan” often speak like movie posters (“Be rich. Be powerful. Or be a corpse”). They’re photographed like model-gods, and though “Pathaan” isn’t a musical, the music that plays during the action sequences is an overwhelming constant — that EDM Bollywood throb, revving even routine battles to a maximum rush. Khan, who suggests a sleeker, more ripped Adam Driver in a man-bun, plays the title character, a veteran RAW agent who’s gone undercover and been left for dead, though he shows up in an early scene, bloody and battered, tied to a torturer’s chair. He then frees himself and defeats his captors in the first of what must be the film’s two dozen whirling, crunching, gravity-defying fight scenes. This is the sort of movie in which even Pathaan walking in slo-mo slipping on his aviator sunglasses counts as an action moment.

His mission is to stop Jim (Abraham), an agent who has gone rogue and leads Outfit X, an international terror organization that commits atrocities for profit. I wouldn’t even try to describe the plot of “Pathaan,” which zigs and zags all over the globe, and all over the place, in a way that defies logic. The film’s only real logic is its pop fetishization of power (bullet power, fire power, 12-pack-ab power), along with its enthusiastic mutating of genres — now it’s a heist movie, now it’s a human-superhero-with-machine-wings movie, now it’s a contagion thriller with Jim threatening to unleash the power of Raktjeeb, a killer virus that makes COVID look like the common cold. What’s in it for Jim? From what we can tell, the sheer megalomaniacal pleasure of it all.

This may sound like a recipe for fun, but “Pathaan” has a stop-and-go rhythm, and a strung-together structure, that grows wearying. (Two-and-a-half hours of frenetic derivative pulp is a lot of pulp.) There’s a car chase through Dubai, a motorcycle chase on ice, and a hand-to-hand fight at the climax in which Pathaan and Jim go at each other so hard that the wooden shack in which they’re fighting starts to slip down the mountain stilts it’s perched on. “RRR” was no model of restraint (and some critics salivated over its overwrought fairy-tale technological bravura in a way that felt vaguely patronizing), but it was a work of high classical precision next to “Pathaan.” Yet I must say I’m glad that Indian films are finding a home here. Here’s hoping, as in the old days, that they bring a new spirit to our cinemas, rather than just blending in with what we’re already doing.           

Reviewed at AMC Empire, Jan. 30, 2023. Running time: 146 MIN.

• Production: A Yash Raj Films USA Inc. release of a Yash Raj Films, Etalon Films production. Producer: Aditya Chopra.
• Crew: Director: Siddharth Anand. Screenplay: Shridhar Raghavan, Abbas Tyrewala. Camera: Satchith Paulose. Editor: Aarif Sheikh. Music: Ankit Balhara, Sanchit Balhara, Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani.
• With: Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Dimple Kapadia, Ashutosh Rana, Salman Khan.

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Pathaan Movie Review: PATHAAN is a complete entertainer, replete with action, emotions, patriotism, humour, thrill and of course, star power.

Pathaan is a complete entertainer, replete with action, emotions, patriotism, humour, thrill and of course, the star power of shah rukh khan, deepika padukone and john abraham., pathaan review {4.5/5} & review rating.

PATHAAN is the story of a passionate agent working for the country. In 2019, after the government of India revoked Article 370, an enraged Pakistan general Qadir (Manish Wadhwa) decides to take revenge. He signs a contract with Jim ( John Abraham ), a dreaded terrorist who has an extreme enmity towards India. RAW's Nandini (Dimple Kapadia), meanwhile, gets a glimpse of a mysterious lady in France, with whom she has had sort of a past connection. Due to this development, she decides to meet Pathaan ( Shah Rukh Khan ), an agent who was once one of the best agents for India but has now supposedly gone rogue. Three years ago, Pathaan had come across Rubina Mohsin ( Deepika Padukone ) and from thereon, things went downhill for him. But the country right now needs Pathaan to save itself from the clutches of Jim. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Siddharth Anand's story is simple and even clichéd. But Shridhar Raghavan's screenplay is highly engaging as the writer peppers the narrative with loads of action, humour, thrill, and even emotions. Abbas Tyrewala's dialogues are smart yet conversational. A few dialogues are moving.

Siddharth Anand's direction is first-rate. To begin with, he has handled the grandeur very well. In fact, the scale is more than what was seen in WAR [2019]. The way he ensured that he does not go overboard with the scale is praiseworthy. He also does justice to the various twists and turns in the tale. The director very well handles an emotional sequence in the second half, which takes place at the Indian Institute of Contagious Disease.

On the flipside, logic takes a backseat in several places. The way Pathaan conveniently enters even the most high-security zones and escapes almost unscathed is difficult to digest. The Afghanistan episode in the climax is predictable. However, the makers compensate for these shortcomings with some high-octane action and thrilling scenes and hence, one will not complain much after coming out of the cinema hall.

PATHAAN begins with a paisa vasool entry scene of Shah Rukh Khan. The flashback portions also contribute to the fun. Rubina’s entry and the scene thereafter are sure to be greeted with claps and whistles. The Moscow episode has a lot of humour and the intermission point is a shocker. Post interval, several scenes stand out like the chase sequence on the frozen lake, the madness in the train, and at the Indian Institute of Contagious Disease. The climax is nail-biting and the film ends on a high. The scene that follows the end credit song is terrific and because it is relevant to the real-life scenario!

Pathaan | Official Trailer | Shah Rukh Khan | Deepika Padukone | John Abraham

Speaking of performances, Shah Rukh Khan is in superb form. The superstar looks quite dashing and performance-wise, he is a treat to watch. With his humour, style and action, he enhances the commercial element of the film many notches higher. And as expected, he also shines in the emotional scenes. Deepika Padukone is at her hottest best and delivers a bravura performance. Her character is crucial to the narrative and she looks quite cool while doing action. John Abraham is an apt choice for the role of the menacing and dashing villain. His screen time is limited in the first half but he makes up for it after the intermission. Salman Khan (Tiger) is outstanding, to say the least. Both his scenes are the most memorable ones in the film. Dimple Kapadia, Ashutosh Rana (Captain Luthra), Manish Wadhwa, Prakash Belawadi (Scientist), Aakash Bhatija (Nandini's junior) and the actor playing the pilot do well.

Vishal-Sheykhar's music is of chartbuster variety. 'Besharam Rang' is already a rage and comes into the film at an important juncture. The same goes for 'Jhoome Jo Pathaan' . Special mention should also go to Vaibhavi Merchant's choreography (in 'Besharam Rang' ) and Bosco-Caesar's choreography (in 'Jhoome Jo Pathaan' ). Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara's background score is memorable, especially the theme played during Jim’s scenes.

Satchith Paulose's cinematography is spectacular and the various foreign locales are breathtakingly shot. Rajat Poddar's production design is top-class. Casey O’Neill, Craig Macrae, and Sunil Rodrigues' action is one of the highpoints of the film. Shaleena Nathani, Mamta Anand, and Niharika Jolly's costumes are stylish, especially the ones worn by Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. yFX's VFX matches global standards. Aarif Sheikh's editing is razor-sharp.

On the whole, PATHAAN is a complete entertainer, replete with action, emotions, patriotism, humour, thrill, and of course, the star power of Shah Rukh Khan. At the box office, it will take a historic opening and will emerge as one of the biggest hits of Bollywood. In short, it has BLOCKBUSTER written all over it!

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Pathaan Review

If there were any doubt that Shah Rukh Khan is still the King of Bollywood cinema (as well as being one of  Empire ’s Greatest Actors ),  Pathaan  dismisses those concerns within its first five minutes. Held captive by a host of evil goons, the 57-year-old actor quickly dispatches them in a flurry of John Wick -esque moves, all while boasting abs that you can grate cheese on and hair that is forever bellowing in the breeze thanks to a seemingly invisible wind machine.

In many ways,  Pathaan  is designed to be the perfect Bollywood blockbuster, to break the chain of big budget flops that have hammered the industry of late. The fourth instalment in the incredibly popular YRK Spy Universe — think the MCU, but with chiselled Indian secret agents instead of superheroes — Pathaan delivers everything that an Indian blockbuster should: a guaranteed box office draw with Khan, exotic locales, crowd-pleasing cameos, stunning dance numbers and gravity-defying stunts that make the  Fast And Furious  franchise look restrained.

Ultimately, it is the sheer charisma of Shah Rukh Khan that holds it all together.

But that is also the problem. If you have seen any  Mission: Impossible  or  Fast And Furious  films of the past decade, there is nothing overly new about  Pathaan . The plot offers up little you haven’t seen before: stolen viruses, betrayed secret agents, double crosses, triple crosses, and car chases around glamorous locales. And while Tom Cruise and Vin Diesel have super-sized budgets to play with,  Pathaan  — despite being one of the biggest-budgeted Indian films of all time — doesn’t have the Hollywood cash to fully realise its more elaborate action sequences.

Ultimately, it is the sheer charisma of Shah Rukh Khan that holds it all together. Whether he’s flirting with Deepika Padukone’s Pakistani agent, trading one-liners with John Abraham’s lead terrorist or playfully chiding his superiors, it’s easy to see why he continues to remain one of the world’s most successful stars, despite a four-year hiatus from acting. And it’s clearly worked because, at the time of writing,  Pathaan ’s box office returns have smashed records both at home and abroad — guaranteeing that, like another superspy before him, Pathaan will return.

'Pathaan' movie review: A sprightly, entertaining comeback from SRK

He is an old trouper living off the grid. He’s been out of action for a couple of years. He comes shrouded in fanfare and intrigue. When people talk about him, in high circles, they get “uncomfortable”. He’s a keeper of his word. He is a patriot with a Muslim name, and a son of this soil, though his true religion is the movies. His name is Pathaan, played by Shah Rukh Khan, and they are one and the same.

Every once in a while, we need our superstars in unadulterated form. Think of it as not fan servicing but fan sensitivity. Tom Cruise—smiling superciliously in films like Top Gun: Maverick, telling the audience he’s got them covered—is the very embodiment of that shtick. In contrast to Cruise, who’s practically always working, and who is three years his senior, SRK has been on a genuine sabbatical, understandably stymied by the poor receptions of Zero (2018) and Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017). Now he returns, riding high and again in Siddharth Anand’s Pathaan. It is an action movie that’s really a soft shell of wrapping, disclosing the SRK delivery machine i t has packed underneath.

In War (2019), also directed by Siddharth Anand, Hrithik Roshan played a superspy gone rogue named Kabir. Along with Salman Khan’s Tiger, the character buffed up what has become the YRF Spy Universe. Pathaan, a battle-scarred soldier who now leads a cover unit called JOCR, rounds out the triumvirate. He’s played by Shah Rukh Khan with the kind of gusto that’s both infectious and a bit, well, extreme. The 57- year-old actor smirks, squints, and deepens his voice. He probably does more action than all his 90-plus films combined. He nods to older hits like Don 2 and Darr (“K..K..K..., Karen”). He has grown his hair. Pathaan is SRK leaving it all on the field, going the extra mile when it’s painfully obvious the standard laps won’t do.

Thankfully, he’s got help. John Abraham holds the screen as Jim, leader of private terror group Outfit X (Siddharth and screenwriter Shridhar Raghavan aren’t the best with names; a prison in the film is simply called ‘Black Prison’). After a long-winded first half, much of it spent on action set-pieces interrupted by gritty backstories, we learn of Outfit X’s plan: destroying India with bioterrorism. “They work on contract, not ideology,” says Nandini (Dimple Kapadia), Pathaan’s boss, like someone describing an IT cell. We also meet Rubina, played by Deepika Padukone, a leggy lass who becomes the mediator — some would say death trap — between Jim and Pathaan.

Like War, Pathaan spares no expense on its action design. Name a vehicle—hummers, trucks, trains, choppers, jetwings—and there’s a chase or combat sequence built around it. I loved the eclectic selection of weapons: in his first fight, Pathaan begins with a pair of improvised escrima sticks, before switching coolly to a shotgun. Jim, meanwhile, favours a small shiny crescent knife among all the endless options at his disposal. The VFX in Pathaan is not very consistent but I suppose most audiences will gladly turn a blind eye. I also wish there was more wit and ingenuity to the action choreography. Witnessed in the wake of RRR, the various rope-based escapes and manoeuvres in this film feel undercooked.

Shah Rukh Khan swims solidly through all the chaos. He is enjoyable in the big action moments but it’s the smaller touches that really sell the performance. During an intense double-cross, he suddenly crinkles up pretty, ditching heaviness for the sort of scrappy romanticism that marks his best roles. The film somehow works best in moments where Rubina is in charge and Pathaan is dustily tagging along, like their Spain interlude. Deepika gets to kick some serious butt, and her scenes with John are just as effective. “Who says love only happens at first sight?” Rubina tells Jim beseechingly, poetically. Only Deepika Padukone can be trusted with delivering such lines in the midst of an action film.

There is a funny Salman Khan cameo - the only justifiable one in a while. I won’t spoil anything further but say that Pathaan goes about its business with humour and diligence. As an actioner, it’s neither irredeemably silly nor overly maudlin (like the recent Bond films). For the most part, it keeps its head low and — as befits a star vehicle – lets its heroes do the talking. There are still some miles left in these old machines. As they assure themselves in the post-credit scene, the young ones won’t cut it.

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone,John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia,Ashutosh Rana

Director: Siddharth Anand

Rating: 3.5/5

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Pathaan Movie Review: It takes a Shah Rukh Khan to save Bollywood, India

Updated Jan 25, 2023, 15:43 IST

Pathaan movie review | Credit: Instagram

• Rating - 3.5/5
• Star cast - Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, and John Abraham
• Director - Siddharth Anand

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Pathaan review – daft Shah Rukh Khan spy caper is more fun than Bond

The Bollywood megastar plays an unfeasibly ripped agent brought out of retirement to foil the fiendish terror plots of Outfit X

T his enjoyable high-octane action spy movie from India is possibly the most fun you can currently have at the cinema – for the first two hours of its running time at least. At the packed London cinema where I watched it on opening night, the crowd erupted with whoops the moment Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan appeared on screen – face battered to a pulp, gazing up through a bloody swollen half-shut eye.

The film is the latest instalment in the YRF Spy Universe : Khan is Pathaan, a James Bond-ish spy brought out of retirement to take down an international terror organisation known as Outfit X. Its leader is another former Indian spy, Jim (John Abraham), who’s gone rogue, committing atrocities for the likes of Boko Haram and Islamic State in return for cash. Now Jim has got his hands on a biological weapon of mass destruction.

The increasingly daft plot pings around the globe like a Bond or Mission: Impossible. Khan delivers a performance with perfect levels of fun, and light on Bond-ish psychological flaws, playing it instead with a wink here, a joke there. (There’s a very funny line about him going to the hairdressers to get a blow dry.) Saying that, Khan clearly takes his training seriously; he’s impossibly ripped, and his personal trainer probably deserves to share his credits and a chunk of his fee here.

The film sags a little towards the end, with a few too many implausible action sequences: characters jumping out of helicopters and fighting on top of speeding SUVs, the choreography glossing over the basics of gravity and physics. Still, the cheers kept coming: the loudest whoop of all when Salman Khan made an entrance as Tiger, a hero from an earlier movie in the series.

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‘Pathaan’ review: Shah Rukh Khan lights up an entertaining spy thriller

Siddharth anand’s action thriller is out in cinemas..

Shah Rukh Khan is back in a film that does his persona full justice. His hair is longer than usual, he is older and presumably wiser, often bruised and blood-spattered, but the twinkle in the eye and the deep dimples are intact.

Siddharth Anand’s Pathaan is a heady cocktail of Mission: Impossibles and James Bonds past with nods to producer Yash Raj Films’ own espionage thrillers and screenwriter Shridhar Raghavan’s previous Agent Vinod . There are even glimpses of Khan’s early days as a dashing Indian Army soldier in the Doordarshan serial Fauji , which catapulted the actor to fame and laid the foundation of his accidental ladykiller persona.

Legacy is one of the chief selling points in a film with a disposable plot. Patriots never retire and can be repurposed to serve their country in new ways, Khan’s government operative tells his boss Nandini (Dimple Kapadia).

An electric cameo that marks Pathaan as a retrofitted entry in the planned “YRF Spy Universe” not only turbocharges the movie but also yields a delightful post-credits scene. It comes all the way after the last beats of Jhoome Jo Pathaan have faded out. It’s worth the wait.

Pathaan finds smart ways to play on the strengths of its star cast as well as remind viewers of how they earned their luminescence in the first place – and why that hasn’t dimmed. From the endlessly charismatic Khan himself, to John Abraham, in excellent form as Pathaan’s worthy nemesis Jim, to Deepika Padukone, oozing oomph and admirable fitness levels as agent Rubiya, to That Cameo, everyone in the movie is correctly deployed for a mission to repurpose Khan as a full-on action hero.

In the present, Jim is planning something so dastardly that only Pathaan can stop it. Flashbacks – and flashbacks within flashbacks – tell us how Pathaan got his name , the results of his first brush with Jim, and the fatal moment when he sets his eyes on Rubiya. The crackling chemistry between Khan and Padukone ensures that Pathaan, who sometimes appears as ascetic as his lodestar Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible films, melts on occasion.

Back in Delhi, Pathaan’s superboss Luthra (Ashutosh Rana) paces in front of computer screens that are warning of imminent destruction. That takes its own sweet time in a 146-minute film with no hurry to meet Jim’s Armageddon deadline.

It’s knowingly silly and sometimes unknowingly silly too, especially in trying to explain how seemingly impenetrable fortresses get easily breached and agents emerge from life-threatening situations with barely a scar. There are moments when the narrative slumps, when the stunts feel too familiar or derivative, when the thrills look like they are in danger of running out. Whenever Pathaan picks up the action again, and adds Abbas Tyrewala’s whistle-worthy lines to its hero’s arsenal, the film slides back into gear.

The whole shebang is dunked in a soft nationalism that is determinedly less toxic than the jingoism we now see around us. Just like Shah Rukh Khan’s come-into-my-arms gesture , Pathaan aims for an inclusivity that embraces not just India but the entire neighbourhood. While weapons of various sizes are bandied about, the movie’s greatest blaster is its hero itself, parleying his well-oiled impishness, time-tested charm and mesmeric screen presence for a cheesy but also entertaining save-the-nation exercise.

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‘Pathaan’ Review: A Goofy Comeback for Shah Rukh Kahn

Unfortunately, not even Khan’s famous pout nor even his cheese grater-sharp abs can save this turkey.

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan attempts a much-anticipated comeback in “Pathaan,” an amateurish Indian super-spy thriller that’s never as well-executed as it is conceptually goofy and politically dubious.

“Pathaan” re-imagines Khan as the leader of a disjointed Avengers-style team of Hindi-language speaking action heroes from the “Yash Raj Films Spy Universe” franchise, so it’s not surprising that the beefy leading man Salman Khan makes a hotly tipped cameo appearance as Avinash Singh Rathore, the headliner in both the underwhelming antiterrorist drama “Ek Tha Tiger” and its superior follow-up, “ Tiger Zinda Hai .”

It’s unfortunately telling that, in an overproduced action scene where both Shah Rukh and Salman run and gun down a swathe of badly image-composited terrorist heavies, neither man seems to be in the same studio lot as the other. 

“Pathaan” feels like a clone of the previous “Spy Universe” installments—including both Tiger movies and the 2019 Hrithik Roshan vs. Tiger Shroff face-off “War”—which were already cobbled together from other Hollywood and Bollywood programmers.

In “Pathaan,” SRK’s characteristically smoldering title character must stop the disenchanted mercenary Jim (former supermodel turned actor John Abraham) from detonating Raktbeej, a devastating biochemical weapon. To stop Jim, Pathaan teams-up with everyone including Tiger, ex-spy turned femme fatale love interest Rubina (Deepika Padukone), and the noble but otherwise unremarkable Indian spy Nandini (Dimple Kapadia). Some high-concept globetrotting hijinks ensue, most of which isn’t as well-covered, computer-animated, or cut as it should be.

As a character, Pathaan often talks and behaves like he was created by a social-cue-missing screenwriting program. Khan falls back on his usual stock poses and gestures throughout, murmur-growling like a “Twilight” vampire even as he delivers corny one-liners and awkward expository dialogue. Unfortunately, not even SRK’s famous pout nor even his cheese grater-sharp abs can save this turkey.

Office-bound spies like Nandini and her stuffy boss Luthra (Ashutosh Rana) also scowl and sigh over computer monitors while struggling with expository dialogue that evaporates mid-sentence. And neither Abraham nor Padukone have much chemistry with Khan, who did a lot more with way less during his extended cameo in last year’s totally watchable superhero fantasy “Brahmastra: Part 1—Shiva.”

The makers of “Pathaan” don’t seem to know what to do with this sort of hoary post-Jason Bourne material, though they’ve apparently cribbed a few visual cues and establishing images from recent action movies like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” pretty much all of the recent “Mission: Impossible” movies, and “The Raid 2: Redemption.” Still, it’s kind of amazing to see flag-waving nationalist characters talk and act in a way that suggests that, while their creators know exactly what kind of movie they’re making, they also have no idea how to make their stars look either seductive or cool. 

“Pathaan” frequently devolves into unintentionally campy surrealism, like when Pathaan finds Rubina bobbing in an outdoor pool. Within seconds, he discovers a smirking Jim lurking in the water just over her shoulder. This sort of cheese-soaked revelation could have been finessed until it seemed confident and/or savvy enough; as it is, this scene looks tonally berzerk and immediately embarrassing.

Some high-concept set pieces rise above shoddy execution and creative mismanagement, particularly any wire stunts involving helicopters, byplanes, or rocket-powered jet packs. Corny and garish, sure, but it’s hard to resist any sequence where Khan and his co-leads valiantly grit their teeth while their characters fly through heavily green-screened airspace. 

Most gravity-bound fights and dance numbers tend to be over-edited and uninspired, especially given their stifling hand-held camerawork. In theory, the movie’s climactic Pathaan vs. Jim brawl should have been a delirious show-stopper since the two super-spies literally punch their way through the walls and support beams of a precariously elevated cliffside log cabin. In reality, the filmmakers get in our way so often that this big finish soon becomes a big letdown.

The makers of “Pathaan” don’t seem to know what to do with their stacked ensemble cast. During his cameo, poor Salman Khan seems to be disassociating when he, standing in the middle of a half-demolished computer-animated train, says: “I’m having a blast, are you?”

Shah Rukh Khan doesn’t usually fare much better, especially not when he, in an early scene that introduces viewers to Jim, stammers silently from inside an overturned car, shown to us in a series of monotonous upside down close-ups that look gut-bustingly silly as reaction shots during Jim’s seemingly endless introductory spiel (presented right-side up, of course).

“Pathaan” stinks on its own terms, which were previously established in the last three “Yash Raj Films Spy Universe” titles. Like those earlier tentpole-risers, “Pathaan” uses its amoral villains to establish an unbelievable, meathead-friendly sort of purity test: either you gladly sacrifice yourself for your country or you die a coward’s death. But Khan’s latest vehicle isn’t even good as junky leftovers, like when Pathaan dramatically introduces the Afghan foster family who, during a negligible Jason Bourne-style flashback, nursed him back to health after a fit of amnesia. “This is my Afghan family,” Khan says with no irony or emotional inflection. Is he serious? Does it matter?

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Bollywood action-thriller has non-stop, cinematic violence.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The film promotes the idea of giving people a seco

Pathaan is a cliched antihero, but will fight for

A Bollywood production, the main cast hail from In

Unrelenting, cinematic action and violence -- with

A character is seen performing a suggestive musica

Some use of "hell, "damn," and "bloody."

Occasional references to the use of social media s

Characters drink champagne and other alcohol in a

Parents need to know that Pathaan is a Bollywood action flick that is unrelenting in terms of its big set pieces, with a considerable amount of violence to go with it. Pathaan (Shah Rukh Khan) is an Indian spy who will stop at nothing to defeat evil and save his country. When he learns about a group of…

Positive Messages

The film promotes the idea of giving people a second chance, especially to communities otherwise neglected in society. Vengeance doesn't bring closure nor happiness.

Positive Role Models

Pathaan is a cliched antihero, but will fight for causes he believes in, even putting himself in grave danger along the way. He is determined to create a division that hires and gives a second chance to formerly wounded soldiers, both physically and psychologically. Rubina is courageous and independent, she makes her own choices in life and follows her own path. When Pakistani army general, Qadir, finds out he is terminally ill he decides to do untold damage on Indian before he passes. Jim Cal is motivated by revenge.

Diverse Representations

A Bollywood production, the main cast hail from India and Pakistan, although scenes are set across the world. There are women in high-power jobs too, but the majority of the big action set pieces fall to the leading male performers who display big egos. For example, one character states that "men don't feel pain."

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Unrelenting, cinematic action and violence -- with an incredibly high death toll. Characters are tortured for information, including water-boarding. A pregnant women is shot and killed. Set within the world of mercenary terrorists, there are guns, missiles, explosions, and lengthy car chases. Brutal fist fights with lots of crunching sound effects and weapon use. A killer virus is set to sweep across the planet. When a group of scientists encounter the virus they shoot themselves to avoid a prolonged death and prevent themselves passing it on.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A character is seen performing a suggestive musical number in a bikini. There is a lot of sexual tension between two characters. A character hires a sex worker, but not to engage in sexual activity. When they first meet them, they stumble over their words when becoming transfixed by their cleavage.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Occasional references to the use of social media sites Instagram and Twitter.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters drink champagne and other alcohol in a nightclub. A character downs a glass of whiskey after suffering a gunshot wound in order to numb the pain.

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Pathaan is a Bollywood action flick that is unrelenting in terms of its big set pieces, with a considerable amount of violence to go with it. Pathaan ( Shah Rukh Khan ) is an Indian spy who will stop at nothing to defeat evil and save his country. When he learns about a group of terrorists -- led by the vengeful Jim Cal (John Abraham) -- planning to unleash a killer virus, he forms a group of ex-soldiers who have been cast aside by society. The film is largely male-dominated, but Pathaan is supported by Rubina ( Deepika Padukone ), a complex and hard to second guess, female spy who maintains autonomy over her decisions, and is not led by the male influences in her life. Though the death toll is huge, it's all very cinematic in its approach, with the victims being mostly faceless. But the violence can get graphic at times. A character is water-boarded for information and a pregnant woman is killed. When some scientists come into contact with the virus, they shoot themselves to avoid passing on the virus. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (1)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Amazing Movie, Not Written That Well

Great movie, what's the story.

When Indian spy PATHAAN ( Shah Rukh Khan ) learns of a killer virus that a group of terrorists want to unleash in India, he brings together a division of neglected former soldiers to help save the day.

Is It Any Good?

An over-the-top, unrelenting, and downright absurd Bollywood action-thriller that simply cannot fail but to entertain its audience. Sure, Pathaan has its flaws including glaring holes in the narrative. But sometimes with popcorn-films of this nature, you simply have to enjoy them for what they are, and embrace the absurdity of it all. If there's one thing you can't fault here it's the film's ambition. Similar to fellow Bollywood hit RRR , the film has big ideas and does a more than commendable job in putting them into action. It masterfully blends the classic Hollywood blockbuster model with the traditions of Bollywood films, such as the dance routines that feature. The film is gloriously cliched. But there's a comforting sense of familiarity to it, as a film that feels like a real throwback to classic actioners, while at the same time very much sitting within modern filmmaking, with a sometimes-too-relevant narrative. Just go and enjoy this one. It's hard not to.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Pathaan . How realistic was it? Did this change how you felt about it? Do some types of media violence have different impact than others?

Would you describe Pathaan as a good role model ? Why, or why not? What makes a positive role model?

Had you seen many Bollywood movies before this? If so, how did this compare? If not, has it inspired you to watch more?

Movie Details

• In theaters : January 25, 2023
• Cast : Shah Rukh Khan , Deepika Padukone , John Abraham
• Director : Siddharth Anand
• Inclusion Information : Indian/South Asian actors, Female actors, Middle Eastern/North African actors
• Studio : Yash Raj Films
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Cars and Trucks
• Character Strengths : Courage , Perseverance , Teamwork
• Run time : 146 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : April 2, 2023

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Back to Black debuts with soft Rotten Tomatoes rating after mixed first reviews

"Abela conveys her youth, so tellingly at odds with that tough image and eerily mature voice."

At the time of writing, the movie's rating stands at 53% , with the majority of critics left spellbound by Marisa Abela's performance as the soul-singing sensation , while they were rather less impressed by the story's depth.

Below, you'll find snippets from the current reviews, including Digital Spy 's:

"As an approach to telling Amy's story, it's admirable to not focus on tragedy, but it just doesn't work here. This is especially the case as the movie has to include some of that tragedy, from Amy's struggles with addiction to the toxic relationship with Blake. It's a tonal mismatch though, so it ends up feeling sanitised.

"It's ultimately a subjective view on one of the most-scrutinised celebrities of the modern era that attempts to shift the focus onto her musical legacy, rather than her tragedy. For some, that might work and it'll be seen as a celebration of Amy Winehouse. But for others, Back to Black won't do anywhere near enough to change their minds."

Related: Back to Black review: Amy Winehouse biopic fails to hit the right note

The Guardian

"It's a movie with the simplicity, even the naivety, of a fan-tribute. But there's a thoroughly engaging and sweet-natured performance from Marisa Abela as Amy – though arguably taking the rougher edges off. The only time Abela is less than persuasive is when she has to get into a fight on the north London streets of Camden.

" Back to Black is essentially a gentle, forgiving film and there are other, tougher, bleaker ways to put Winehouse's life on screen – but Abela conveys her tenderness, and perhaps most poignantly of all her youth, so tellingly at odds with that tough image and eerily mature voice."

Empire Magazine

"Perhaps the issue is the film's concept: the script draws its inspiration from her lyrics in Back to Black , and [Blake] Fielder-Civil was the subject of this second and final album. But while the songs act as a musical-like narrative of her life, no time is devoted to showing us how she made them (pouring them out fully-formed in her bedroom with an acoustic guitar doesn't count).

"We see none of the artistic decisions she made in the studio that led to her becoming a phenomenon, or the complicated but powerful singer-songwriter who won five Grammys in one night. In Back to Black , Amy Winehouse is just a girl singing about a boy."

Related: Why Marisa Abela was cast as Amy Winehouse in Back to Black

Little White Lies

"Since Bohemian Rhapsody took home four Academy Awards in 2019 , it feels as if music biopics have been coming down the slop chute thick and fast, with debates around their ethics, impersonations and omissions becoming ever more tedious. Sam Taylor-Johnson's Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black , might just be the defining stench emanating from the pail."

"The film doesn't land the same emotional impact as Asif Kapadia's Oscar-winning documentary Amy . Instead, it works best as a love story between the singer and Fielder-Civil – their tumultuous time together inspiring songs like 'Back to Black' itself. Knitting it all together is a terrific turn from Abela, who not only looks the part (tattoos, beehive hairdo, etc.) but gives a remarkable vocal performance, sounding uncannily like the singer on record."

The Hollywood Reporter

"By the end of Back to Black , we've observed Amy rise to fame, fall in love, get heartbroken, and die but we never really get to know what makes her tick. There's a lot of emphasis on her familial relationships, not just with Mitch [Winehouse] and the mother (Juliet Cowan) who barely features, but also with her grandmother Cynthia (Lesley Manville, moving).

"But the film doesn't examine how this seemingly happy clappy North London Jewish family singing Yiddish songs around the piano might have shaped Amy in any way apart from instilling a love of music and getting her into performing arts school."

Back to Black is released in UK cinemas on April 12 and in US cinemas on May 17.

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Reporter, Digital Spy 

Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy , NME and Yahoo Entertainment . 

In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.

.css-15yqwdi:before{top:0;width:100%;height:0.25rem;content:'';position:absolute;background-image:linear-gradient(to right,#51B3E0,#51B3E0 2.5rem,#E5ADAE 2.5rem,#E5ADAE 5rem,#E5E54F 5rem,#E5E54F 7.5rem,black 7.5rem,black);} Movies

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Screen Rant

Denzel washington's $195 million hit broke his best rotten tomatoes streak 31 years ago.

Denzel Washington ended the best stretch of his career on Rotten Tomatoes 31 years ago with the release of a $100 million hit with great expectations.

• Denzel Washington's best Rotten Tomatoes streak was broken by The Pelican Brief in 1993.
• Despite its box office success, the film received mixed reviews due to its runtime and adaptation.
• The Pelican Brief prevented Denzel's streak from reaching eight fresh movies by 1995.

Denzel Washington broke the best Rotten Tomatoes streak of his career 31 years ago with a $195 million legal thriller. After his Oscar-winning role in Glory , Denzel was propelled to stardom during the 1990s. This decade was responsible for giving the actor some of the most iconic roles of his career, many of which came in critically acclaimed and financially successful projects. This included the first of many Denzel Washington and Spike Lee movies , as well as working with Tony Scott for the first time on Crimson Tide .

Although Denzel Washington's overall success in the 1990s is unquestionable, it was not a perfect decade for him. Several movies expected to be well-received became critical misfires or underperformed at the box office. The success of Denzel Washington's movies still outweighed the rare missteps, as he only had six movies released in the decade that were met with a majority of negative reviews. However, each of these films meant breaking any successful streak he had begun. That included snapping the best Rotten Tomatoes streak of Denzel's career.

Denzel Washington's 45% Rotten Tomatoes Misfire Made Turning Down This Classic 1990s Thriller Even Worse

The pelican brief snapped denzel washington's best rotten tomatoes run in 1993, denzel's previous 5 movies got great reviews.

Although Rotten Tomatoes was not even created at the time, The Pelican Brief is responsible for breaking the best stretch of Denzel Washington's career. The 1993 legal thriller starring him and Julia Roberts came out in December with the expectation that it would be an awards contender and one of the year's best-reviewed films. Instead, The Pelican Brief has a 55% Critic Score on Rotten Tomatoes due to the amount of negative reviews it received. This was an unexpected result as Denzel Washington was on a hot streak with his movies and how critics responded to them.

Rotten Tomatoes was created in 1998, five years after The Pelican Brief's release

Prior to The Pelican Brief 's release, Denzel had five consecutive "Fresh" movies on Rotten Tomatoes from 1991 to 1993. This streak started with Mississippi Masala and Ricochet in 1991 and continued with Malcolm X in 1992. He then had Much Ado About Nothing and Philadelphia released in 1993 before The Pelican Brief ended the year on a negative note. Denzel has never had more than five straight "Fresh" movies on Rotten Tomatoes. The movies included in this stretch are some of his best. To make matters even worse, The Pelican Brief prevented the streak from reaching eight movies by 1995.

The Pelican Brief Should Have Been Another Success For Denzel Washington

Denzel & julia roberts' film was expected to be a hit.

The end result of The Pelican Brief was a mixed bag for Denzel Washington. The film was a financial success for him and Julia Roberts as it made over $195 million at the box office . It was also another John Grisham novel adaptation coming on the heels of The Firm 's success earlier that year, and All The President's Men and Sophie's Choice director Alan J. Pakula was behind it. The Pelican Brief had all the ingredients to be a success for Denzel and everyone else involved.

The heightened expectations for The Pelican Brief based on who was involved might have led to a more negative response. Most critics agreed that Denzel and Julia made for a great pairing , but the work of Pakula when it came to adapting Grisham's book was a common criticism. This included dragging out the runtime to nearly two and a half hours. In any case, The Pelican Brief 's Rotten Tomatoes score reflects the poorer reception and became an unexpectedly criticized entry in Denzel Washington 's filmography.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

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Pathaan: Final Trailer

Where to watch pathaan.

Watch Pathaan with a subscription on Prime Video, rent on Apple TV, or buy on Apple TV.

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The First Omen's Rotten Tomatoes Score Finally Breaks 48-Year Franchise Trend

• The First Omen is a prequel to the 1976 classic, breaking the trend of franchise sequels/prequels.
• The movie explores the origins of villain Damien with sinister reveals and unexpected twists.
• The First Omen has a 79% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest in The Omen franchise's history since the first movie.

The First Omen is not only expanding The Omen franchise , but it has now finally broken a four-decade-long franchise trend. The horror genre keeps rebooting franchises either with sequels or prequels, and falling into the latter category is The Omen . Over three decades after the last Omen sequel and 18 years after the failed remake, The Omen franchise is back with The First Omen , a prequel to Richard Donner’s 1976 horror classic. The First Omen explores Damien’s origins , with a couple of twists and turns and sinister reveals.

The First Omen takes viewers back to the 1970s to meet American novitiate Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free), who arrives at Vizzardeli Orphanage in Rome to take her vows. There she meets orphan Carlita Scianna (Nicole Sorace), with whom she quickly bonds. However, Margaret also discovers something sinister at the orphanage that involves the people in charge of it, as they have all been planning the birth of the Antichrist to create fear and drive people back to the church. The First Omen is not only a return to the franchise, but also the movie that’s finally breaking an old franchise trend.

The First Omen Ending Explained

The first omen's fresh rotten tomatoes score is a first since 1976, the first omen currently holds a 79% score on rotten tomatoes.

Critics’ opinion of Donner’s The Omen has been more favorable as time goes by, and it now holds an 85% critics score.

Like many other franchises in the horror genre, The Omen started strong but the quality of the movies gradually decreased . Despite getting mixed reviews during its initial release, Richard Donner’s The Omen is now considered a horror classic, and as happened with many other now-classic horror movies, time has been good to it. Critics’ opinion of Donner’s The Omen has been more favorable as time goes by, and it now holds an 85% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes , praising its use of suspense over shocking imagery to tell Damien’s story.

The commercial success of The Omen made way for a franchise with three sequels and one remake in 2006, of which none was able to match the success and reception of Donner’s film. The First Omen is finally breaking this unfortunate franchise trend by having the highest score in The Omen ’s history since the 1976 movie. At the time of writing, The First Omen has a 79% score on Rotten Tomatoes , with critics praising its themes and how it blended a new story with the mythology of The Omen , successfully expanding on it.

The First Omen's Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Better Than The Last 4 Omen Movies Combined

The first omen’s rotten tomatoes score gives new hope to the franchise.

None of The Omen ’s sequels achieved a “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the 2006 remake was also a big failure.

As mentioned above, before The First Omen arrived, The Omen franchise struggled to match the quality of the 1976 film. The first sequel, Damien – Omen II , reunited the audience with Damien, now a teenager, with Omen III: The Final Conflict following an adult Damien. Omen IV: The Awakening had a chaotic story about the daughter of Damien, who succeeded him as the Antichrist but was (quite literally) carrying a secret. As seen in the table above, none of The Omen ’s sequels achieved a “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes , and the 2006 remake was also a big failure.

Why The First Omen's Reviews Are So Positive

The Omen ’s remake has been labeled as “bad storytelling” and has even been compared to Gus Van Sant’s infamous Psycho remake in terms of being completely unnecessary. Despite being a prequel, The First Omen managed to bring something new while still being part of the franchise’s mythology and answering the biggest questions about Damien’s origins, while also bringing twists and surprises. At 79%, The First Omen has officially broken a terrible Rotten Tomatoes trend for The Omen franchise, but if there’s a continuation to it, it’s to be seen if it will keep this good streak.

The Omen is a classic supernatural horror film that follows a family that begins seeing a dark change in their son as he ages. Unbeknownst to his wife, Kathy, Robert Thorn sees that their child has died during birth and is aided by a chaplain to replace the deceased child with a newborn orphan and raise him as their own. As the years pass, increasingly violent incidents, including the suicide of the family nanny, begin to occur around their son, Damien. Little do the parents know, the child they took on is actually the antichrist.

The First Omen

The First Omen is a horror film from director Arkasha Stevenson that acts as a prequel to the 1976 film The Omen. The film follows a young woman who goes to Rome to become a nun but begins to question her faith after encountering a terrifying darkness that aims to spawn an evil incarnate.