O2 Movie Review: Logic be damned in Nayanthara's survival drama

Director GS Viknesh’s O2, starring Nayanthara and Baby Rithvik, tries to be an intelligent survival drama. But, the film ends up being a joke with its so-called twists and turns.

Over the years, Nayanthara has spearheaded many women-centric films. Not every film turned out to be a huge hit compared to her commercial entertainers. But, that doesn’t stop our Lady Superstar from picking more such ventures in her career. Director GS Viknesh’s O2 is one such film, made with the sole intention of making a survival drama with a female lead. However, O2 lacks finesse and the so-called twists and turns ruin the entire experience. In some instances, it makes you ask, why me?

O2 revolves around a bunch of people who get trapped in a landslide while they are on their way from Coimbatore to Cochin. Parvathy (Nayanthara) is a single mom to 8-year-old Veera (Rithvik), who suffers from cystic fibrosis. This means that Veera can breathe properly with the help of an oxygen cylinder. Similarly, there’s a couple waiting to elope, an en-MLA (RNR Manohar), a corrupt police officer (Bharath Neelakandan), a bus driver (Aadukalam Murgadoss) and a few others.

When they get trapped inside a bus in a landslide, all of them go through different emotions. While on the brink of death, people change and the evil within them is unleashed. Will Nayanthara and her son escape on time? What will happen to the rest?

O2 has a good premise for a survival drama. But, the proceedings are so juvenile that sometimes it makes you want to laugh out loud, even in serious moments. As the film begins, Parvathy talks about how Mother Nature can be ruthless when provoked. Every scene that follows the introduction has a callback in the second half of the film. Ideally, it should all come together and make you anxious for the trapped people. The biggest problem is that you don’t feel for the characters. Everything feels disconnected as the sequences look artificial.

Here's the trailer of O2:

O2 is also a film that shows that audiences are taken for granted. When all the other characters in a particular scene gasp for breath, Nayanthara doesn’t. When the end is near, Nayanthara’s Parvathy hallucinates and feels breathless due to lack of oxygen. Finally! Some of the altercations between bus passengers are so lousy that it makes you roll your eyes.

Despite making you sit for two hours, it gives you a climax that makes cartoons look better. Logic be damned. Lip-sync be damned and even screenplay be damned in this lacklustre film.