The Greatest of All Time (GOAT, 2024) Movie Review: A Vijay Celebration, Filled to the Gills, For Better and Worse (2024)

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In recent memory, no other star shares the fervent parasocial relationship with his fandom as much as Thalapathy Vijay. It is fascinating that Thalapathy Vijay shares most of the chemistry with the screen or the fourth wall. You watch him dance furiously and at a breakneck pace, executing even the most nonsensical choreography with gusto.

Still, every time after one dance number, he points to the fans and displays an affectionate response towards them. You watch his almost reassuring goodbye at the end of the song “Ranjithaame” in “Varisu,” or even his expressions while playing for the screen in the song “Whistle Podu” for this film. That chemistry is more palpable than any on-screen chemistry he supposedly shares with any actresses.

Perhaps that is for the better for “The Greatest of All Time” (GOAT, 2024), Thalapathy Vijay’s 68th feature, which stars Vijay as a secret agent in battle with a mysterious foe who turns out to be himself. Of course, the narrative contrivance would bring forth an identity for the doppelganger—a son, a father, an unknown brother—but the basic premise remains the same. And like “Mersal” (2017), and especially “Bigil” (2019), the most passionate and compelling relationship Vijay shares on screen is with a version of himself. It could be read as narcissistic at worst, weird at the laziest, and pretty fascinating at its best.

And for Vijay, whose penultimate feature is filled to the gills with homages and references to his past work even more than “Master” or “Beast,” the acting he delivers within a highly bland and derivative script is quite remarkable. The marketing for “The Greatest of All Time” pitting “Thalapathy vs. Ilya Thalapathy” (Commander vs. Young Commander, the moniker Vijay’s fans have adorned him currently vs. the ones Vijay fans had adorned him before) works in hindsight because other than Bhavani (Vijay Sethupathi) in “Master” or the leader of the sleeper cell essayed by Vidyut Jamwaal in “Thupakki,” no other Vijay-led film in recent memory had a compelling villain.

This also allows, at best, the director Venkat Prabhu to have his cake and eat it too. Similar to his 2011 feature “Mankatha,” where Prabhu would utilize a star vehicle to showcase Ajith Kumar in a negative role for the entire movie, Prabhu at least takes the second half to deliver something interesting—the character of Jeevan, essayed by Vijay, adorned by fantastic de-aging—and allows Vijay to cut loose.

The Greatest of All Time (GOAT, 2024) Movie Review: A Vijay Celebration, Filled to the Gills, For Better and Worse (1)

The resulting performance feels almost subversive, with every shtick known to Vijay fans (the collar hiding his face, him muttering his famous catchphrase “I am Waiting”) molded and almost working against the usual heroism expected from Vijay. This is not Vijay being directed by Lokesh Kanagraj as a gray-shaded character. Jeevan is and remains a villain from the time his revelation occurs, and unlike most movies where a redemption arc is almost expected, that doesn’t happen here, thankfully.

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Venkat Prabhu, though, tests your patience when making “The Greatest of All Time.” In crafting a celebration of all things Thalapathy Vijay, he almost forgets to include his own voice in the movie. Prabhu has always been a slick filmmaker, liberally borrowing plots from Hollywood blockbusters but not forgetting to add his own spin, his brand of clever plotting. The zenith of Prabhu’s plotting skills was employed in his 2021 time-loop political thriller “Maanaadu.”

Here, though, taking inspiration primarily from the “Mission Impossible” films, Prabhu unfortunately crafts one of the more straightforward secret agent films in recent memory. The first half is so deadened because it works as an introduction to Vijay and is almost a parody of 1960s James Bond movies, and not in a very good way. However, once the inciting incident occurs within the narrative (the apparent death of his son), the movie starts to pick up. Still, it never gains any momentum despite the script throwing so many turns at the wall.

Unfortunately, the movie begins to feel bloated, mainly because the first forty minutes of the film spend too long on the setting of the stage before diving deep into the narrative itself. At 183 minutes long, the movie could have used many cuts, especially concerning the songs. The songs added, especially in the second half, are so jarring that they almost kill the film’s momentum. But one of the biggest culprits for “The Greatest of All Time” failing to deliver any discernible sort of impact is Yuvan Shankar Raja and his background scoring.

A mass film like “Jailer,” coasting completely on Rajnikanth’s screen presence, was massively elevated due to Anirudh’s memorable score. Yuvan Shankar Raja’s background score, along with the songs, actively hampers the film, along with a sound mix that feels shy of tweaks for the final product to occur.

The Greatest of All Time (GOAT, 2024) Movie Review: A Vijay Celebration, Filled to the Gills, For Better and Worse (2)

While inconsistent, the technical aspects of “The Greatest of All Time” work for the most part. As evidenced previously, the de-aging of Vijay in the character of Jeevan is exceptional in how seamless it looks. In contrast, some of the special effects, especially the backgrounds during the action scenes, are so painfully obvious, as having utilized green screens it almost hurts the eyes, especially in the final climax taking place at the Chinnaswamy Stadium during an IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. I did like the cameo towards the end, while the one at the beginning, working as a homage to a late superstar of the past, feels somewhat strange and misplaced, though not overtly offensive.

Like his fandom in “Mankatha,” Prabhu’s fandom of Chennai Super Kings is as palpable as his fandom for Thalapathy Vijay, with the final set-piece almost scored to the match’s commentary. It is fun to watch but also feels rather self-indulgent. The references to Vijay’s films are sometimes referenced through punchlines, but the ones that did work for me are the direct callbacks in specific scenes—the fight scene in the metro reminiscent of the first setpiece in “Master.” The fight scenes are choreographed quite well, cliched moments notwithstanding.

But again, it begs the bigger question: how much can the fan service of Vijay hide the inability of this actual film to deliver an impact on its own? The only moments where I remain interested are when Jeevan is on screen, and that’s less because I was invested in the plot and more because I was interested in the performance itself. None of the supporting characters is remotely interesting, and only because of the chemistry Vijay has with Prasanth and Prabhu Deva do I buy the friendship between the characters essayed by the three of them.

How much of “The Greatest of All Time” is a Vijay film, and how much is it a Venkat Prabhu film? Considering this is the penultimate film of his career before Vijay shifts to his political career, and considering Prabhu even allows in a sneaky “CM 2026” reference (the number plate of Gandhi’s car), it can be safely assumed that this is almost 80% a Vijay feature.

That is truly a dicey endeavor for anyone to go through, especially considering the film runs for a mammoth 3 hours. But considering Prabhu is endorsing Vijay’s political ambitions almost tacitly, how is he also teasing a sequel via a mid-credits sequence, and that too one with a sci-fi bent? Is that a fallback plan for both Vijay and Prabhu? If so, count me and even discerning Vijay fans out of this plan.

Read More: From Dada to Chithha: The Ten Best Tamil Movies of 2023

The Greatest of All Time (GOAT, 2024) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia, Letterboxd
The Greatest of All Time (GOAT, 2024) Movie Cast: Vijay, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Ajmal Ameer, Mohan
The Greatest of All Time (GOAT, 2024) Movie Genre: Action/Mystery & Thriller | Runtime: 183 mins
Where to watch The Greatest of All Time
The Greatest of All Time (GOAT, 2024) Movie Review: A Vijay Celebration, Filled to the Gills, For Better and Worse (2024)

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