Regina Movie Review: Shoddy making and writing sinks this revenge thriller

One more Friday, and one more thriller has hit Tamil cinema. It is clear that this genre has been the flavor du jour for quite a while now, and the only thing changing every week is the prefix to that thriller. Action, crime, medical, revenge, fantasy, etc... etc... But these prefixes work only if the narrative piques the interest of the audience and keeps the thrill elements on point. In Sunainaa's latest, Regina, a revenge crime thriller, there are a bunch of interesting ideas, but it gets all messed up, both in terms of execution and writing.

Cast: Sunainaa, Nivas Adthitan, Rithu Manthra, Ananth Nag, Dhina, Gajaraj, Vivek Prasanna,

Directed by: Domin Dsilva

Regina is the heart of the film, and it is her story that drives the narrative forward. However, there is hardly any empathy that is evoked for Regina, who has lost her loved ones for no fault of hers. Her father is hinted to be an activist of sorts, the one “fighting against the system” as referred to by his friend, who in turn is called a “Naxalite” by the police (there is no callback to this in the narrative). If this loss isn't debilitating enough, she also loses her partner during a bank heist. Wait, it is not over. She also suffers an abortion. Despite facing such catastrophic issues, we don't really feel for the character because the makers rush through the proceedings with choppy edits that randomly jump from Tamil Nadu to Kerala where we are acquainted with restaurant owner Julie (Rithu Manthra). You might think there is a time leap of sorts, but the film just shifts gears into the revenge thriller the makers promised.

Director Domin D Silva tries to pack some intriguing ideas, but a lot of it gets lost in translation. For example, stories and jungle animals are often used as a narrative metaphor, but it just falls flat and adds nothing to the storytelling. In another instance, there are a few moments where Regina feels a sense of feelings for Julie. These unexplored emotions could have been a blissful reinterpretation, but the lack of finesse sticks out. There is also no clarity in the relationship between Julie and her husband, who is a criminal. Their marital life, riddled with abuse, abandonment and deliberation don’t add up to screen time it is given either. If the writing falls short, the jarring music score and the clear unease in dialogue delivery, further plunges the film to deeper heights. It is disappointing that the multi-faceted Julie is relegated as just a pawn to move the story forward.

With Regina, the makers try to deliver a bold tale of revenge pulled off by a woman. While the first half stays right on track, it is the second half where things crumble. Why have a jovial song soon after a thug chops off a man’s hand? Why resort to make-believe gunshots that pull us away from the film. It is sad that shoddy camerawork and screenplay does not allow you to take this ride with Regina, who has lost almost everything in her life. There is an artificiality in the emotions, superficiality in characters, and a reasoning behind their actions. Sometimes it is hard to gather what is happening in the screenplay that is perhaps intended to be racy. But the makers confuse racy with erratic, and even an honest ensemble delivering earnest performances just cannot save Regina from going haywire, and ending up to be an inadvertently tedious watch.