RRR at Union South Marquee Cinema

No prior knowledge of Indian historical figures Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaran Bheem is necessary to appreciate as S.S. Rajamouli’s bombastic action film RRR (2022). This three-hour epic reimagines the two real life anti-Raj activists Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr., often referred to as NTR Jr.) and Rama Raju (Ram Charan) as near-superhuman strongmen, an analogue to Goku and Vegeta for 1920s India.

Rajamouli’s infectious enthusiasm for over-the-top action set pieces have led to RRR becoming a crossover hit with audiences who aren’t usually tuned in to Indian cinema, both in America and worldwide. (Of course, having the highest production budget of any Indian film to date surely has something to do with it.)

The plot in brief: Bheem hopes to rescue a kidnapped child from cartoonishly evil British Colonialists. Rama Raju works for the British police. Both go undercover, and the men become best friends without ever realizing each other’s true identity. Tension dramatically comes to head after the requisite dance number.

Rajamouli is clearly having a blast staging CGI-heavy action. Only Top Gun: Maverick‘s plane scenes come anywhere close to RRR‘s level of excitement, and the Indian production didn’t have to utilize taxpayer-funded fighter jets to do it. (That is not to say RRR doesn’t have its own problematic implications.) But at the end of the day, it’s a giant spectacle that highlights the strengths of the theatrical experience. And this may be your last chance to see the film locally. —Lewis Peterson

RRR screens both Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m., with an intermission halfway through its 181-minute running time.