Film Review 'Game Over': A game-changing thriller with powerful writing

Now, the director has come up with an enticing thriller, that keeps us engrossed right from the word ‘go’. Like the title suggests, Game Over transports the audience into a virtual world only to make them realise that they don’t get an extra life in the real world. We can’t categorise this film as a crime thriller, as the film has a bit of horror element, too, which is intentionally underplayed.

In each and every frame, Ashwin Saravanan gives some clues to understand what the characters in the film are going through. For instance, we are introduced to a girl (Sanjana Natarajan) in the very first scene, and the camera shifts to a photoframe which quotes ‘We are not fighting alone’. One can predict that she is a cancer survivor, who has fought all her life. In the next scene, she gets murdered by an unknown person.

A few minutes into the film we are introduced to another girl, Swapna (Taapsee Pannu), a gamer, with a traumatic past. She has a phobia for darkness and often wants her maid (Vinothini Vaidyanadhan) by her side to ensure that nothing goes wrong in her life. Even before the first half ends, Ashwin unravels some interesting instances that happened in her life and cleverly connects it to the character we see in the first scene. The second half gets more frightening as the central character of the film, Swapna, is put into yet another traumatic situation, which is more worse. Will she face it without any fear or give away her life?

Ashwin’s treatment to this thriller is something to watch out for. It manages to send chills down the spine and also conveys a beautiful story with a serious message. The second half is shot in such a way that it is almost like watching an interesting video game. The only drawback is that the film gets repetitive towards the climax and gives a chance for the audience to predict the end. Tapsee’s performance as a gamer, with a bad past, is quite impressive. She carries the entire film on her shoulders, along with Vinodhini, who also has delivered an exceptional performance. Overall, Game Over is a thriller, that shouldn’t be missed watching in theatres.