Agneepath - Great roast, could've been crispier

Film: Agneepath
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Zarina Wahab
Direction: Karan Malhotra
Value: 3.5/5

Firstly, if the question 'But is he even a patch on Amitabh Bachchan?' is playing on your mind, you probably want to leave this page. Such comparisons are unfair and silly. For everyone else, Agneepath is a smooth, intelligent revival of its 1990 version with minor modifications such as the regrettable absence of the Krishnan Iyer character.
Vijay Chauhan (Hrithik Roshan), who plays Zarina Wahab's estranged son, has been plotting to get even with his father's killer Kancha Cheena (Sanjay Dutt) for the last fifteen years. And he hatches a smart plan to do so, using Mumbai's dreaded slumlord and flesh-trader Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor) as a pawn. In the midst of the entire mire of the drug world he gets into, Vijay finds solace in his childhood companion Kaali (Priyanka Chopra) and an unsolicited-advice-doling godfather in ACP Gaitonde.
In what would otherwise have been a trite revenge saga, what stands out is probably the best performance I've ever seen Rishi Kapoor deliver. Despite the fact that he can't help looking like a cute teddy bear, he manages to make you hate him alright, and with flair. Sanjay Dutt sans the Desi Shrek look is what you have most certainly seen before of him, and he might have shone as much as his pate in the film if it weren't for a far superior act by Rishi Kapoor. And of course, Hrithik Roshan essays the "nice bad guy" role effortlessly and brilliantly too.
Of course, there are some things I am still seeking an honest explanation for. How does a brown-eyed twelve year-old turn into a green-eyed twenty-seven year old? If there is a science behind the phenomenon, I now know why I never understood biology as a subject. Also, Deven Bhojani is completely wasted as the mute child of Rauf Lala, for think about it - you didn't really need that character, did you? Or maybe you did, if you at least showed an angle of Vijay's brotherly love towards the younger Lala and his resulting angst while plotting against Lala Senior. Sadly, the Bhojani angle vanished without a trace, leaving one wondering about its purpose in the first place.
Beyond the minor goof-ups, the film also has a painfully slow climax, giving you the kind of feeling that you are stuck in an upward-bound elevator that stops at every floor. Don't even begin to analyze where Vijay Chauhan gets his energy to heave up a beach-ball sized Sanjay Dutt up the banyan tree when he has been stabbed repeatedly with a butcher's knife. Total Mahindra Bolero type of toughness, what.
But here's the final word: Agneepath is a fast-paced action flick with an entertainment quotient that should hopefully set the mood right for cinema in 2012. And if you don't concur, I have only two words for you: Chikni Chameli.