Captain Miller review: An old lady tells the tale of Koranar, a mythical tribal warrior whose valor earned his people the right to dwell in a hamlet outside of a temple, during the opening of Arun Matheswaran’s Captain Miller. However, in a nation governed by colonialism, the indigenous people suffer double oppression from both the British and the royal family that control the kingdom.
Dhanush portrays Eesa, a young tribal man who, after his love story ends before it can blossom, chooses to enlist in the British military. Sengayyan (Shiva Rajkumar), his brother and a liberation warrior, is enraged with him. However, Eesa raises a legitimate concern when she queries how the British differ from the Indian royals who oppress and abuse their people. He claims that at least the British provide them with boots to wear even if the royals anticipate them to be barefoot. This is one of the few times in the movie that the drama examines the complexity of oppression rather than just focusing on good and bad politicians.When Eesa enlists in the military, he takes the name Miller, but he gives himself the rank of “Captain” once he breaks free from both the village’s laws and the grip of colonial power.
In Captain Miller, several characters are present. Priyanka Arul Mohan’s character Velmathi is a princess turned rebel who defies her family in order to defend her nation. Elango Kumaravel’s character Kannayyan is the head of a band of criminals that pilfer cash and firearms. In the initial part of the movie, he also plays the role of the sutradhar, telling those who have caught Miller about his background. Thaen (Nivedhithaa Sathish) is a female criminal in Kannayyan’s army. The role of John Kokken is that of a cruel, insane ruler who has no regard for human life. Along with Miller, Sundeep Kishan plays Rafi, a Muslim soldier in the British army.
However, the story lacks a central idea: what does Miller want to accomplish? Miller doesn’t know what he wants out of life at first. The effect of the handheld camera captures his faltering thoughts. He has a horrible event and emerges a more confident guy. However, we are unaware of his political views, which he hinted to in the incident with his brother. Rather, Matheswaran stuffs the script with of gunfights and fast-paced action scenes that leave viewers feeling emotionally detached even as people are killed much too frequently. Yes, it’s thrilling, and the background music makes us breathe faster, but we don’t care about any of the characters, so we stay detached.
