By John Corrado
The main takeaway from Half, the sophomore film from director Samjad P S, is that Indian vampire action cinema kinda kicks ass. Samjad’s film basically plays like a Bollywood mash-up of The Raid and Mad Max, following twin vampires out for blood and revenge in India.
Ethan (Ranjith Sajeev) and Ivy (Aiswarya Raj) are twins who also happen to be half-vampires. The brother and sister are driving through the Rajasthan desert, when they get attacked by a group of hijackers who target and rob cars driving down the desolate stretch of road. After being left for dead, the siblings go on a mission to track down and get revenge on their attackers.
The film doesn’t do as much with the vampire aspect as it could have, other than giving the characters self-healing abilities, and in terms of story, it can feel pretty empty. But Samjad’s Half mainly exists to be a thrill ride, unfolding around a series of action sequences that are impressively choreographed by Very Tri Yulisman, the Indonesian stunt coordinator behind The Raid and The Raid 2. The bone-crunching action is matched with some very nasty gore effects almost guaranteed to make you wince.
The action sequences are a lot of fun to watch, and Half moves quickly at 96 minutes to not overstay its welcome. It’s all set to an awesome soundtrack that largely comes from Ivy, who doesn’t speak and is always playing music, with her song choices providing a series of memorable needle drops.
These elements all add up to a film that plays very well with a hyped up crowd. Sure, Half might not have much between the action sequences, but the action alone is enough to sell it. This is fun cinema meant to be seen and experienced with an appreciative audience. In other words, Midnight Madness was the perfect place for it to be shown to Western audiences.
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