A Common Man (2012) Directed by Chandran Rutnam

When it comes down to it, this movie is nothing more but a poorly done B-movie, with some big name actors attached to it.

This was probably nothing more but a paid vacation for Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross, otherwise I can't explain their presence in this movie. They were probably given the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in Sri Lanka in some luxurious resort or hotel, with as an only demand that they would show up on set for a couple of hours each day, to shoot this movie. Why else, with all respect, would you want to do a Sri Lankan production? It's not like this movie features a very challenging one or has an original type of script and concept and this also isn't an all important movie that is going to change the world with its messages.

No, when it really comes down to it, this really is nothing more but a very formulaic B-movie. Its production values are low, so don't expect any good action such as any spectacular explosions, well choreographed fight scenes or shootouts from this movie.

But of course the one thing that especially makes this movie a very typical and far from surprising one is its story. To be frank, it's really poorly written. It's incredibly simplistic but what's worse about it is its dialog. Let me give an example of how basically all problems get resolved in this movie; A person says no to something, another person then says something very trivial and after that the other person has suddenly changed his/her mind. It's crazy to watch at times and it doesn't make this movie the most convincing one either. The characters and their actions/motivations come across as kind of stupid because of it, though I have to say that in the end I still kind of like what they did with the Ben Kingsley character and his exact motivations. It's probably the only thing about this movie that's remotely interesting and not formulaic but it all comes too late for the movie. Once his true motivations are revealed, the movie is nearly over already and unfortunately the ending itself just isn't a very good or convincing one either.

It's definitely true that the only reason why this movie is still remotely watchable is due to the presence of Ben Cross and Ben Kingsley. But there is only so much they could do with their roles and the material provided though. Everyone and all the other things surrounding them are bad, just bad. This especially is apparent with its supporting cast, that consists out of natives, without much prior acting experience. Some of the performances in this movie are absolutely awful, made all the worse by the incredibly bad dialog.

Guess that somewhere deep down, this movie still had some potential. The idea of telling most of the story from the perspective of a terrorist is a pretty good and interesting one but the movie never handles it well enough. It doesn't have the right sort of story to ever make things interesting, engaging or tense and it also most certainly doesn't have the right type of approach to its story. The directing, just like its script, is incredibly lacking and only emphasizes the movie its poor production values and writing.

4/10

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