Ayan Mukerji's "War 2" -- the sequel to "War" (2019) and the sixth entry in Yash Raj Films' inter-connected Spy Universe -- gives its screen stars larger-than-life introductions. However, it denies them much beneath the surface, and in the process, fails to imbue its scattered action with human stakes beyond nebulous jingoism.
The criss-crossing bonanza unfolds through overly complicated, Russian-nesting-doll flashbacks, in an effort to add fuel to the face-off between its major stars: Bollywood mainstay Hrithik Roshan and Telugu superstar N.T. Rama Rao Jr. (or Junior NTR) of "RRR" fame, in his Hindi-language debut. Roshan reprises his role from "War," as the rogue former RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) sniper Kabir Dhaliwal, a man so deep undercover that he's now a notorious mercenary. Meanwhile, NTR plays his equal and opposite as Major Vikram Chelapathi, a duty-bound officer tasked with hunting down Kabir when it appears he may have joined a terrorist coalition, the shadowy, Specter-like Kali, made up of rich businesspeople from all over Asia.
The dueling presence of Roshan and NTR is the movie's key selling point. When each man first appears -- wielding a katana and hitching a ride on a military drone, respectively -- their stature alone feels worth the price of admission. Unfortunately, as "War 2" goes on, that value plummets. If its predecessor lacked one key element of the action movie two-hander, it was the lack of chemistry between Roshan and previous co-lead Tiger Shroff, for which "War 2" tries to overcompensate. Sadly, it ends up with an empty facsimile of on-screen bromance, as the unlikely frenemies grasp arms "Predator" style, but stare off into the distance as though they'd never shared a set.
A film like "War 2" typically benefits from action that's either cartoonishly explosive or completely grounded, drawing either cheers and laughter, or winces and heart palpitations. But beyond each man's introductory scene, where they make killing henchmen look easy -- perhaps too easy -- the action falls into a weightless uncanny valley between these two extremes, thanks to its lack of geography, its malformed CGI and some janky speed-ramping on autopilot. It's cool to watch from a distance, but never evolves or draws you in.
The plot initially has emotional weight, as Kabir's mentor from the previous film, Col. Sunil Luthra (Ashutosh Rana), becomes Kali's next target, en route to more ambitious plans. Luthra's daughter Kavya is also introduced, a wing commander played by an exceptionally plain Kiara Advani, a character who ends up sidelined for much of the movie, and denied meaningful catharsis, despite her personal investment in the story. There are lengthy stretches where it seems like no one on screen has any coherent motive or ideology, since Shridhar Raghavan's screenplay fills in these blanks in reverse. The movie's go-to technique is exhaustively long flashbacks meant to retroactively explain connective tissue that, at the very least, ought to have been hinted at through performance. But with the exception of NTR -- who brings an ambitious intensity to a two-dimensional part -- the actors largely play singular, uncomplicated emotions befitting a middle school production: Happy! Angry! Sad!
On one hand, this fits the series' mass-appeal M.O. as a broad-strokes action saga for all audiences, set against exotic global backdrops. On the other hand, it renders each attempt at zippy vehicular chases atop trains and planes, or at testosterone-fueled fistfights, a distant spectacle at best, worth observing (or trying to, whenever the haphazard editing allows), rather than investing in. Six entries deep, super-producers Yash Raj ought to be aiming higher, if they want their various star-led sister franchises to meaningfully cross over in the future.
The YRF Spy Universe technically kicked off in 2012, with the Salman Khan-led "Tiger" trilogy, followed by Siddharth Anand's barmy first "War" entry, also about Indian super-agents going rogue. However, the shared continuity began in earnest with Anand's "Pathaan" in 2023, a comeback vehicle for mega-star Shah Rukh Khan, which retroactively tied all three series together. "War 2" picks up this baton by introducing new characters who'll likely be important down the line (like the incoming RAW head honcho played by Anil Kapoor), but despite laying this logistical groundwork, the film feels like a major step back thematically. Whereas "Tiger" and "Pathaan" went to great lengths to oppose India's growing right-wing nationalism, in part by having their Indian heroes team up with (and even fall for) Pakistani agents, "War 2" coasts on simplistic "India First" sentiment.
Without forcing its rogue agents into complicated situations (à la "Mission: Impossible" films), the series no longer has a point of interest binding its action together. Instead, objectives and alignments change at the drop of a hat, with undue time being spent on constructing plot twists in reverse, revealing information for which the viewer has no context until they're pummeled with clunky, post-facto exposition. It's a chore, and it certainly doesn't help that the nearly three-hour runtime features a dozen different climaxes, each with its own orchestral denouement, promising a reprieve that never arrives.
In its strongest moments, "War 2" presents some fun (if awkwardly sudden) musical frolic between Kabir and Vikram, played by two of Indian cinema's smoothest dancers. However, that the film's dramatic highlight is likely the young and electric newcomer Hearty Singh, who plays a younger Vikram in an extended flashback aimed at a last-minute grasp at class-centric themes, speaks to how lacking the central story, and its telling, truly are.
The movie's attempts at crafting classic action homoeroticism fall dispiritingly flat. Roshan and NTR's brooding intensity and muscular physiques may get audiences through the door, but "War 2" has little to keep them excited or engaged.