Krack

Gopichand Malineni's 2021 Telugu film follows a police inspector known for hard methods. Wherever Shankar is posted he brings the criminal outfits to heel; assigned to Ongole, he meets someone unlike anyone he has faced before. The film follows the familiar mould of Telugu action but does two things well. First, it builds a strong antagonist; the man played by Samuthirakani takes up as much space as the hero. Second, the choreography of the action and the pacing. Ravi Teja's style of moving between comedy and action works here. Against that, the film entirely endorses police violence and never questions extralegal methods; the genre's general problem applies. Who it's for: those who like Telugu action cinema and Ravi Teja. Who it's not for: viewers troubled by the celebration of police violence; the film does it openly.