“Race 3” Review: The Worst Of The Entire “Race” Franchise

Race 3, as the title aptly suggests, is the third instalment of the immensely successful action-thriller franchise Race. While the first two parts of the series were helmed by the director duo Abbas-Mustan, the latest instalment has been directed by choreographer-turned-filmmaker Remo D’Souza. It boasts of an ensemble star cast, including Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor, Saqib Saleem, Daisy Shah and Freddy Daruwala. Read Race 3 review on STARBIZ and find out whether or not you should be spending your time on the film.

Story

Shamsher Singh (Anil Kapoor), a criminal who fled from his village near Allahabad years ago, owns an empire in Al-Shifa Island in the Middle East. He lives a king-size life. His stepson Sikander (Salman Khan) runs his illegal arms’ business. Sanjana (Daisy Shah) and Suraj (Saqib Saleem) are Shamsher’s twin children who have the right over half of his property. Rest half belongs to Sikander, and that is the main bone of contention.

Sanjana and Suraj do not like Sikander at all and believe that the whole and sole property belongs to them. Everybody has their eyes fixed on multi-crore business and property, but who will acquire it ultimately? Is there someone who holds the string of all these puppets in his hand? To know this and more, watch the film.

Screenplay & Dialogues

Well, if it is a Salman Khan film, story is the last thing that should be there on your mind. But apart from being a Salman Khan starrer, Race 3 is also the third instalment of the superhit Race franchise, so expecting something in the name of a story should not be deemed as a crime.

Unfortunately, Race 3 disappoints big time in that department. Some makers believe that speeding cars, elaborate song and dance routines, gravity-defying action sequences and, of course, a bare-chested Salman Khan can make up for an engaging, coherent story. But that unfortunately is not the case. You have to have a strong story for a film to work. The screenplay and dialogues of Race 3 are stale and make no sense more often than not. Anil Kapoor’s character belongs to a village in Uttar Pradesh, so you will find some Bhojpuri dialogues as well. They are so absurd and bizarre.

Performances & Direction

There are almost half a dozen actors in the film – some of them highly experienced with years of experience behind them – but none of them seems interested in showing some acting chops in Race 3, I wonder why.

Let’s not count Salman Khan, but we do not expect a mediocre performance from Anil Kapoor at least. But he proves us wrong with Race 3. Bobby Deol looks unbearably stiff throughout the movie, as if he woke up from a slumber and drove straight to the sets of the film. Let’s not talk about Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem who get to mouth some of the cheekiest dialogues in the film.

Director Remo D’Souza terribly fails to put together a coherent film. Maybe he just could not deal with the ensemble cast at his disposal. Maybe helming a full-blown action-thriller is not his cup of tea. After watching Race 3, I have a simple advice for him that he should stick to what he does best: making dance flicks.

Technical Aspects

The film has been shot at some exotic locations. Cinematographer Ayananka Bose deserves praises for capturing some breathtaking locations in his camera.

With a runtime of almost 3 hours, Race 3 is intolerably long. There is a long list of sequences and a few songs which could have easily been scissorsed.

Highlights

Costumes
Cinematography
Locations

Drawbacks

Screenplay
Dialogues
Performances
Direction

Did I Like It?

I hated it.

Final Verdict

A love-triangle, deceit, double-crossing and sibling rivalry, there is possibly every formulaic ingredient the writers could think of, but Race 3 lacks logic and challenges science in ways you can imagine only after watching the movie. If you want more than a shirtless Salman Khan and semi-clad heroines in a film, look beyond. Race 3 is deceptive. I am going with 2.5 stars.

Movie Credits

Banner: Tips Films, Salman Khan Films
Director: Remo D’Souza
Writer: Shiraz Ahmed
Cast: Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor, Saqib Saleem, Daisy Shah
Runtime: 2 Hours 39 Minutes
STARBIZ Rating: 2.5*

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