THE Greatest of All Time or simply G.O.A.T. is a Mission Impossible-style action thriller about a Special Anti-Terrorism Squad (SATS) with deceit, corruption and revenge as its main themes.

The movie begins in the year 2008, when M.S. Gandhi (Vijay) and his squad are on a mission to retrieve uranium from a moving train that ends up exploding and killing terrorists and the main villain, their former chief of SATS Rajiv Menon (Mohan).

Rajiv is declared dead by Kalyan (Prabhu Deva) and the team goes on another mission
to Bangkok but this mission takes a turn for
the worse.

Mysterious killer

The first part of the movie is exhilarating with action, stunts, comedy, suspense and thrills aplenty. The opening scene on a fast train was exciting to watch. Viewers were genuinely shocked when Vijay appeared as the late actor Vijayakanth (who died in Dec 2023) and then, tears off his mask (ala Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible). Fight scenes between the main protagonists, an action sequence while riding a motorcycle and a thrilling race to detonate
a bomb at a stadium were among the
best moments.

Vijay is exceptional in portraying double roles with distinguishing personalities – one was a mature father Dhoni and another was a vengeful son Jeevan, created using “de-aging” technology. Meanwhile, Vijay’s heart-tugging acting, especially during a scene when Dhoni finds out Jeevan was burnt to death, moved the audience to tears.

Prabhu Deva’s corrupt police role was a departure from his usual roles. The camaraderie and fun between the three, including Sunil (played by actor Prashanth, who returns to
the big screen after a long hiatus), was fun to watch. Mohan, a popular actor among female fans in the 1980s as a villain, was quite interesting to watch at the beginning but he was overshadowed by Vijay’s Jeevan, leaving him limited screentime.

Flawed but enjoyable

G.O.A.T. has its flaws. To begin with, the makers seem to have been inspired by the Mission Impossible franchise. Plus the revenge theme is not a new subject in Indian movies. The idea of a younger image, using the “de-aging” technology, is reminiscent of The Gemini Man, starring Will Smith, making the film lack authenticity as the scenes appear to be “borrowed” from other movies.

The songs and background score by composer Yuvan Shankar Raja lacks the excitement an action film craves. G.O.A.T. is Vijay’s second last movie as the actor has announced his retirement from the film industry to pursue a political career. As such, in the film, his character Dhoni makes jokes about starting a party (indirectly referring to his newly established political party) and “starting a campaign” but quickly corrects it to “champagne”.

The filmmaker pays a sort of tribute by inserting his popular punchlines and iconic dance moves from his previous movies. They even brought in actress Trisha for a cameo appearance in reference to their movie Ghilli.

The final scene at Chepauk Stadium (M.A. Chidambaram Stadium) during a cricket match between Chennai Super Kings against Mumbai Indian felt draggy and long, perhaps it was to accommodate Vijay’s double roles.

Vijay has a huge following in the Tamil cinema industry, considering his star power alone pulls a huge crowd for his movies. However, star power do not always equal to good movies. That said, the movie has enough twists and surprises with Vijay’s dual roles make it a worthwhile watch for a diehard fan.

G.O.A.T is playing in cinemas.