Movie Review: Uri: The Surgical Strike

Michael's Movie Grade: B+


Review: This war movie from India is not subtle, but there is no doubt it was effective.

Don't think because this is a near two and a half hour movie in a foreign language that it by any means is an art film. This is an action film through and through and an excellent one at that. Looking at the action scenes, it is amazing to think this was the first feature film to be directed by Aditya Dhar. These are some of the best looking and most exciting action scenes I have seen in quite a while. Action is not always my favorite genre, but I could not help but get swept into the excitement and suspense of these scenes. Not a single action scene goes on long enough to drag, but none of them feel rushed either and on top of this the scenes look legitimately epic. This is not to say the movie was nothing but explosions however. Our two main characters (Vicky Kaushal, Yami Gautman) are very likable and the performances from the actor and actress are fantastic. Even though this is a big action movie at times the emotional scenes manage to be quite effective as well. The funeral scene is especially effective and I can see some crying while watching it (personally I just had something in my eye). This was a very patriotic movie that had nothing but praise for the Indian army. This patriotism is not heavy handed though. Instead it is actually inspiring and gives this movie much of its charm. While an American myself, I never felt off-put by this display of patriotism for India, because it was treated so human and real that I couldn't help but be moved by it.


The biggest fault with this movie would be overlength.  This is a long movie that can feel long. Somethings could have been cut out of this film and it still would have been just as effective. For instance do we need unfunny comedy involving a officer burping? Some of the scenes involving the main character's mother are quite good, but they feel like they should be in a different movie and really slow things down. While our main characters are great, some of the supporting characters are not as interesting.

Despite any faults though, this is an excellent movie. It is easy to get past this movie's faults because the good stuff is extremely good. If you are a war movie fan definitely check this out.

-Michael J. Ruhland