Tik Tik Tik movie review: Massive sets, VFX carry film interestingly to some extent

Director: Sakthi Soundar Rajan

Cast: Jayam Ravi, Nivetha Pethuraj, Ramesh Thilak, Aarav Ravi

Tik Tik Tik touted to be a first (!) space thriller in Indian cinema is the second outing in the combo of Sakthi Soundar Rajan and Jayam Ravi after their initial film Miruthan (first Zombie film in Tamil) where they had attempted to explore new territories. Did they succeed?

The film begins with the Defense Space Division team (DSD) headed by Mahendran (Jayaprakash) debating a highly confidential matter of a massive asteroid measuring 60 square kilometer and which is all set to strike the Bay of Bengal. This would in turn set off tsunamis and would leave behind heavy casualties. The only way avoid the destruction is to blast the asteroid in the outer space by launching a nuclear missile. Since India does not have enough nuclear power, the DSD decides to procure one through illegal means. Accordingly, they choose to steal the missile from the highly secured vault in the Chinese (the country name beeped by censors throughout) Space Station. Realizing that there is hardly anyone with the skill of handling the tough space task among them, Mahendran chooses escape artiste and magician Vasu (Jayam Ravi) and his friends Venkat (Ramesh Tilak) and Appu (Arjunan) who are expert hackers. When the high profile team which also includes two officers from DSD - Swathi (Nivetha Pethuraj) and Raghuram (Vincent Ashokan) - is all set out to space for the challenging mission, Vasu gets a call from a stranger who tells him that his little son Ravi (Aarav Ravi) with whom he dots on is kidnapped. In order to get his son back, Vasu needs to handover the missile to the stranger. Now Vasu is in a fix – whether to save his son or the innumerable lives at stake.

All right, Sakthi has the ambition of plunging into unknown areas to provide new experiences to audiences. But, it is in the unbelievable execution where he falters. As a result, the seriousness that should have been associated with such films is lost. Can ordinary people (though they have some magic and hacking abilities) be trained to go in space just in two days time? Logic goes for a toss in several places. Thankfully, we are spared from romantic dream songs, which work towards the film’s favour.

Jayam Ravi scores with his fit body and also in emotional scenes, which worked well and realistic as this portion involves his real son Aarav debuting in a noticeable role. Nivetha Pethuraj looks good, but has no scope for performance. Jayaprakash, Vincent Ashokan, and Rithika are adequate. Imman’s captivating BGM is the biggest plus to the film, while Venkatesh’s visuals add value. It's the massive sets and VFX that carries the film interestingly to some extent.