Director Gautham Tinnanuri's "Kingdom" attempts to blend emotion and action in the spy thriller genre but struggles to maintain its grip throughout.
The story follows Soori (Vijay Deverakonda), a police constable in 1991 who has been searching for his brother missing for 18 years. When Soori's anger over injustice leads him to assault a superior officer, he faces dismissal. However, his courage earns him an undercover mission instead. The assignment takes him to Sri Lanka to bust a smuggling operation that uses indigenous people from Divi Island. The twist: the gang's leader is his missing brother Shiva. What follows explores the complex relationship between the brothers, Soori's dual role as gangster and spy, and their connection with the island's tribal community.
Vijay Deverakonda delivers a solid performance that will likely be remembered in his career. Though he appears as a policeman for only a few minutes, he convincingly portrays a middle-class youth through his looks and body language. Once he goes undercover, he transforms completely - aggressive, angry, intense in fights, and commanding in action scenes. He shows maturity in understanding his character's different shades.
Satyadev does well as the elder brother, particularly in emotional scenes and moments where his character faces difficult choices. His subtle facial expressions work effectively. Unfortunately, heroine Bhagyashree Porse barely registers, and even the romance song from the promotions is missing from the film. Rohini appears in just one scene as a mother, leaving little impact. Most of the actors playing villains tend to overact, but Venkatesh as Murugan delivers an excellent performance that plants his flag firmly in Telugu cinema. His character speaks a mix of Eelam Tamil and Telugu, which we've seen before, but Venkatesh's performance makes it stand out.
The technical team works hard to show the film's scale. Cinematographers Girish Gangadharan and Jomon T John capture the period setting, jail action sequences, and climax effectively. Anirudh's background music becomes the film's biggest strength, using theme music only when necessary and elevating scenes to the next level. He tries hard to hide the second half's flaws with his score and recover from the screenplay's weak moments. Editor Naveen Nooli also attempts to save "Kingdom" from falling apart. Thanks to the entire technical team's efforts, an action sequence on a bridge becomes a spectacular experience.
Director Gautham Tinnanuri's strength lies in focusing on character emotions, which works well here too - but only until intermission. From the beginning, he reveals everything in advance and moves the story through the emotional journey of his characters.
Combined with Anirudh's amazing background music and mass action scenes, the first half makes us excited. But the second half leaves us confused, unable to connect with the storyline. We can see shades of "Retro," "KGF," and "Salaar," but that's not a good thing here.
The biggest problem is that what worked in the first half completely disappears in the second half. Many characters remain incomplete, and some scenes serve no purpose. As the film progresses, it feels like it's building toward something important, but then it simply disappoints.
Overall, "Kingdom" as a whole fails to establish its own empire. The film had the potential to rule but ends up controlling only half its intended territory.