Genre Action

RRR (2022)

★★★★½ — RRR (2022)

There's a moment in RRR where two men, who should by all rights be enemies, dance together at a party with such infectious joy and charisma that you forget you're watching a three-hour Indian action epic and just think: this is one of the greatest things I've ever seen put to film. That's RRR in a nutshell. Completely, gloriously, unapologetically itself.

I've been working my way through world cinema for my A-Z World Movie Tour, and after I'd already ticked India off the list with Sholay (1975), I decided I wasn't done. I wanted to go for the cream of the crop. And RRR is exactly that.

Let's talk about what this film has achieved, because the records it broke aren't just impressive trivia. It was the first Indian film to win an Academy Award. The first Asian film to be nominated for and win a Golden Globe. It shattered streaming records on Netflix when it hit the platform. And here's the thing: every single one of those accolades is deserved. This isn't a film that won awards because of politics or sentiment or timing. It won because it's genuinely extraordinary.

The action sequences are hilariously, wonderfully over the top, and I mean that as the highest possible praise. Marvel have been spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to make fight scenes feel this thrilling, and RRR makes them look like they've been wasting their money. There's a sequence involving a bridge, a motorcycle, and what I can only describe as an inspired use of a tiger that had my jaw on the floor. The VFX won't fool anyone into thinking they're watching a documentary, but they're deployed with such confidence and such sheer spectacle that it doesn't matter one bit. The film knows exactly what it is.

And then there's the music. The dance numbers. The songs. If you think you're too cool for a Tollywood musical number, RRR will cure you of that delusion within about twenty minutes. The choreography is extraordinary, the energy is absolutely electric, and I'd wager Andrew Lloyd Webber himself would sit in a darkened cinema watching this and feel a quiet, creeping inadequacy. These sequences aren't interruptions to the story. They are the story, or at least just as important as any plot beat.

For pure kinetic, crowd-pleasing action filmmaking, it sits alongside the very best the genre has to offer. If you loved The Raid 2 for the way it committed completely to its action ambitions without apology, RRR gives you that same feeling, just with added singing, mythology and genuine emotional heft.

Now, I do have one gripe, and I won't pretend otherwise. At three hours long, the film does sag a bit in its middle section. There's a back-and-forth betrayal and retribution arc that goes around the same loop a few too many times, and I found myself wishing the editors had been just a little more ruthless. That stretch could comfortably lose twenty minutes without losing anything essential. It's the one moment where the film's ambition slightly outpaces its discipline.

But here's the thing: even during those slower stretches, you're watching something that's so alive, so committed, so genuinely passionate about its own story and characters, that the bloat is forgivable. Not every film earns its three hours. RRR earns most of them.

Four and a half stars. Go watch it, and don't let anyone tell you subtitles are a barrier. Turn them on, settle in, and let it take you somewhere you've never been before.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Year: 2022 | Watched: 2025-06-28

View on Letterboxd →

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Netflix · Netflix Standard with Ads
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Netflix · Netflix Standard with Ads
Physical: Amazon US

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