Critics rating: 2.5 Stars

Cast:  Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif

Direction: Kabir Khan

Produced: Sajid Nadiadwala, Siddharth Roy Kapur

Written: Kabir Khan, Kausar Munir

Duration: 135 Mins

Right after the high of Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Kabir Khan delivers a serviceable popcorn flick. However, the thing with raised expectations is that the audience no longer wants ‘nice’. Certainly not in quick succession after a rousing, emotional tale that transcends borders.

Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan) is a disgraced, ex-Indian army officer who is entrusted with an impossible task. And in true Mission Impossible vein, his mission, should he choose to accept it involves tracking and killing the masterminds behind the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2008 (the film drops ample reminders of the same throughout). If caught or killed, the RAW agency that sent him globe-trotting and gun-toting will disavow all knowledge of his actions. After being promised a reinstatement in the army, Daniyal accepts.

Unlike the book Mumbai Avengers, which has a small team of skilled operatives ready to covertly take down the terrorists, Phantom has a one-man army either carefully plotting or winging his way through his assassination attempts. Daniyal’s storyline differs from the Hussain Zaidi novel as he goes it alone and later with the aid of Nawaz Mistry (Katrina Kaif, armed with an accent more lethal than the weapons she wields).

Nawaz may have been included as the essential femme fatale but her character is too sketchy and her track with Daniyal is kept subtle. Too subtle. Daniyal gets a certain build-up and redemptive arc to his story but we never really understand why Nawaz is going all out to help him. Is it patriotism? Love? Neither comes across.

The scene where they confide their pasts in each other gets awkward. Nawaz tells Daniyal about the time her father took her and her sister to the Taj hotel for a cup of tea before those outings gradually came to a halt. Our hero gives the briefest of smiles and says that is exactly what they should do when their mission ends (albeit framed in an unintentionally amusing manner). It is almost as if he would say, “Who’s yo daddy?” in the moment.

Phantom is off to a slick start in the beginning when two planners of the terror attack are killed (all while making it look like an accident). The story declines from the Syria portion, which involves blind gun-fighting without really taking the story forward in a convincing manner. After that, the narrative gets clunky.

Despite not having a team backing him, Daniyal manages to easily overcome the odds to execute his kills. However, there is still an element of tension in those scenes with all the frantic cross-cutting and the nick-of-time manoeuvres to make it seem like the characters had a narrow escape.

There is also the question of the diplomatic repercussions of the retaliation, which does not get much ground in the film. Still, Phantom is taglined as a story one wishes were true. So maybe it is more convenient for the hero’s cause to have the Pakistani government look the other way while he calmly does his bit for his country.

The romance and action here is not half as satisfying as it was in Ek Tha Tiger. It does not have the emotional strand that kept Bajrangi Bhaijaan going. This may be Kabir Khan’s weakest film in recent times but that does not make it a bad film.

For all its flaws, Phantom is not boring. It takes a few leaps of logic and coincidences, but will sustain your interest throughout with the relentless pace.