Pathaan is an over-the-top Indian spy/action flick full of cool poses, slow-mo, crazy action, and all the explosions and dance numbers you might expect from Indian cinema. It’s technically part of a shared cinematic universe that includes War from 2019 (the only other one in the four part franchise I’ve seen). I gather this means it includes a few cross-over actors and a consistent spy agency… plus similar themes (by which I mean, bam bam shoot the terrorists!).

The flick is about a disgraced spy going up against a betrayed spy who has tuned his back on India. The plot really hardly matters though… but, hey, it contains betrayals, sexy dance numbers, high speed chases, people defying gravity even more than Legolas in the Hobbit films, explosions, punch-fu, gun-fu, and all that spy-fu you might have gotten out of a random Fast and Furious or Mission Impossible film.

Is it fun? Actually, yeah… as long as you don’t think too deeply about it. Y’know, like the bad guy gets away on a motorbike across a frozen lake, chased by the hero who magicked up his own motorcycle? And where did the heroine get ice skates fast enough to keep up with the dudes on bikes? None of this makes sense but it doesn’t have to; this is the heightened ridiculous world of action films.

And it was exciting… most of the time. The chase scene on the motorbikes was the high point. The final showdown involving two agents pummeling each other while a passenger airline is threatened is full of clichés and goes about where you figure it’ll go, but it was still well produced and exciting.

This flick looks like a million bucks (and that includes the ridiculous abs on the two leads… and some fine midriffs on the ladies). It’s filmed in India, Paris, Russia, Africa… it’s a real globetrotter (or at least it pretends to be). It’s so shiny and sparkly you’d mistake it for a better directed Michael Bay film.

Overall, I found my estimation of this silly action film rising dramatically as the story progressed. It’s a whole lot of fun and it takes itself so very seriously in a way that’ll make you chuckle. A for effort, that’s for sure.

Score: 86