Raavan is Boring and Forgettable

Despite a modest running time of 2 hours 10 minutes, Raavan fails to grip the audience as it discloses the string of events that take place in any other movie dealing with the traditional concept of good vs. bad.
Here’s a movie which has been so called inspired by Ramayana (for if it really is, Hanuman would never do liquor). The beginning forces you to expect a lot from the rest of the movie and generates a certain sense of curiosity. However, nothing really happens even though the movie is fast-paced in its own course of proceedings.
Mani Ratnam lacks his signature style and surrenders himself to the conventional method in this particular genre. He fails to accurately define his characters and everyone appears too ambiguous on grounds of righteousness by the end of the film. The movie lacks the inflatus of Guru as well as the flamboyance of Yuva. However, he retains his position as the only director who can make Jr. Bachchan act rather acceptably.
Rahman’s music is good. Well, he doesn’t have to put in half his heart into it to make his music just ‘good’. The songs are well-placed and do not seem forced into the scenes even though there are plenty.
Santosh Sivan impresses the most with his cinematography. He gives us the glimpse of his much praiseworthy ‘Asoka’. This one’s slightly on the better side. He overdoes himself at a few places but that can be forgiven.
For the acting, Abhishek and Aishwarya have done justice to their very powerful characters(which, unfortunately, because of their dubious nature put the audience in a could-have-been, should-have-been dilemma). Govinda is pleasing with his comic acts. Meanwhile, Ravi Kissen is a revelation, making his every moment on screen truly memorable. Vikram, as Dev, has not much ado. He maintains that stoic expressionless look on his face throughout the movie as Police Officers in other Bollywood flicks do.
With customary screenplay and carelessly handled script, the movie is pretty random in its first half and slow in the other. I’d go with 2 out of five for Mani Ratnam’s adaptation of the Hindu Mythological, intrinsically for its absorbing cinematography.