O2 Movie Review

Filmmaker Viknesh GS’s directorial debut ‘O2’ starring Nayanthara in the lead role is premiering tonight (June 17, 2022) on Disney+ Hotstar. We at Studioflicks bring you the early review for this movie, produced by Dream Warrior Pictures SR Prakash Babu and SR Prabhu.

The story revolves around a bus journey from Coimbatore to Cochin, where passengers travel for their respective purposes. A mother (Nayanthara) with her 8-yr old son (Vignesh) is traveling for treatment, who is suffering from a chronic lung disorder. Since he cannot inhale naturally; he is always supported by an oxygen cylinder. Other passengers include a young couple in a relationship, a politician (RNR Manohar), a cop (Bharath Neelakandan), and a few others. An unexpected incident of a heavy traffic jam lets a few passengers hop onto another bus. After many hours of halting, the driver decides to take a shortcut route, which leaves the bus trapped in a landslide. With the outside world getting to know about this scenario very late in time, and the passengers inside struggling for oxygen, the miscreant cop triggers an unfavorable situation by targeting the kid’s oxygen cylinder. The upheavals that break out inside the trapped bus form rest of the story.

Survival thrillers aren’t something new to the audiences, who have frequently such movies from Hollywood. Of course, there have been few regional movies from our country that have attempted to make movies inside a bus, but ‘O2’ is something unique and first of its kind thriller that Tamil audiences would be watching. The way, this story is conceived with the right dose of emotions, action, and thrill moments need special mention. Filmmaker Viknesh deserves special mention for conceiving this story that indirectly signifies a good message at the end.

It’s great to see Nayanthara get a generous screen time to exhibit her prowess. Of course, she has been consistently working in many female-centric movies, but this is one of her best after Aramm and Mookkuthi Amman. The charisma she exhibits as a mother is so impactful in this movie. The next one to steal the spotlight is filmmaker Bharath Neelakandan, who has tried his acting luck in this movie for the first time. He is a natural actor and has done a commendable job. His antagonistic acts are so spontaneous and they never look as though attempted after lots of rigid practice. The little kid Rithvik as Nayanthara’s son does a neat job. Innocence happens to be the character’s core virtue, and he effortlessly delivers it.

The others like late actor RNR Manohar, Temple Monkey YouTube fame Rishikanth, Aadukalam Murugadoss as bus driver too delivers a neat job. Shah Ra has a minimal scope but is good. The cinematography is the biggest asset to the movie in keeping us engrossed in many places.

On the flip side, there are a few places, where the logic seems to be missing. Especially the unacceptable climax portion that lacks logic eclipses all the engrossing thriller drama. Maybe, the director attempts to convey the message that ‘Mother Nature’ tries to save all its children, but still, we aren’t sure, how many would understand the metaphorical essence. The running length of this movie could have been tweaked by 20-25 mins would have made it a gripping edge-of-seat thriller. This is because we are slightly hit by boredom even before the first half as the story is set against the backdrops of a single location.

Well, this has got nothing to blame the director, but when certain genres or premises have limitations, one has to craft the story accordingly to avoid these minuses. If Viknesh has done this, O2 would have touched a higher level of the final output. However, these elements on the flip side wouldn’t play a spoilsport, as the movie is getting released on the OTT platform directly.

Overall, O2 is a watchable thriller for the great attempt of the entire team. Be it Nayanthara’s performance, debut filmmaker Viknesh’s craftsmanship, outstanding cinematography, and set work, everything contributes to the movie’s best results.