Crackdown Review – A Tackily Executed Thriller From Start To The End

Saqib Saleem plays the lead Riyaz Pathan in a true Bollywood hero style. The actor fits the part perfectly, physically, and delivers the needs. 

However, Saqib Saleem fails in making it an engaging and memorable role. The voice-over he gives at times, for example, is very weak and sleep inducing. The intensity is missing and it feels as if he is sleepwalking through the part. Maybe the director intended it to be ‘cool’ and representation of ‘badass attitude’, but that never comes across. 

There are very less emotional sequences or scenes which require Saqib to bring out his dramatic side. So, there is not much on this side as well. The only positive here is that he doesn’t overact.

Apoorva Lakhai directs Crackdown. He has been in the industry for nearly a couple of decades but has not been able to come up with anything worthwhile apart from Shootout At Wadala. He is the director of the monstrosity that was Zanjeer remake. 

The expectations are definitely not high keeping Apoorva Lakhia in mind. It becomes a positive for the narrative. One expects the worst, but the proceedings are somewhat better. But, it is only to those who know the background. 

To those who have no such background info and if one were to take preconceived notions out of the mind, Crackdown is still a massive disappointment. 

The director along with his team of writers have come up with a predictable content within the spy genre. What’s more problematic is that they pick bits and pieces from popular flicks to create plot points for Crackdown. 

So, we see bits from Skyfall to Fauda to The Dark Knight and many more in the narrative. The makers are additionally doing nothing to hide them either or freshen them up. It still wouldn’t have been a problem if the execution was on spot. 

Apoorva Lakhia’s weakness with the direction and presenting an engaging narrative comes to fore again in Crackdown. It is visible from the beginning itself. It gets worse and many times comic, as well. 

The biggest problem with Crackdown is the silly representation of the background it is set in. The setup is that of the RAW and the way each major character acts and behaves makes one think if they deserve to be in that position in the first place. They are so laughably dumb and stupid that it can’t be ignored. 

It again conveys that the world-building has been done based on other popular movies and series rather than on an original organic development. 

The Mariam track and how it progresses is interesting, but everything else doesn’t strike in a similar way. There is also the good cop-bad cop formula tries where the two individuals don’t get along. Crackdown presents a terrible usage of the trope. The subplots involving Zorawar and others are very dumbly tied to the main story, in the end. 

The only good thing about the whole exercise is three decent twists. They are not entirely surprising but comes across that way due to the sheer ‘formulaic’ predictability before and after those happenings. 

The ending is so cinematic, and cringe. The whole series transforms into the ending of an action blockbuster. But, it leaves out a neat cliffhanger for the second season of the show. 

Overall, Crackdown has a decent plot that is an amalgamation of various genre cliches (and classic tropes), but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. It does offer fun, but it’s unintentional.

Apart from the lead, the rest of the actors have a very inconsistent graph with poorly sketched characterizations. Iqbal Khan playing Zorawar comes instantly to the mind. He goes overboard and makes the character look like a joke for the most part. Shriya Pilgaonkar is wasted considering her potential. She is alright in action sequences. Rajesh Tailang is another prime example of writing failure. He is an excellent actor but fails to leave any mark. 

The rest of the actors like Ankur Bhatia, Waluscha De Sousa, Tanya Desai, Ram Menon and others play supporting parts with nothing exciting to do.

A Couple Of Twists 

Short Length (of Individual Episodes)

Direction 

Tacky Execution 

Performances 

Lacks Gripping Moments