Creating this post to give a spoiler review and also, to discuss the movie with people who have already watched it. Mods, please approve this if it fits the bill. If not, please delete it.
So, RRR!
Well, I watched this movie in Hindi, in a packed movie theatre and the first impression that I got was, only someone like Rajamouli can bring people of all kind to his movies. There were kids, women and elderly amongst the audience. People in shorts, jeans and dhoti too. Much appreciation to him for making movies at a scale which tempt people from all across board to purchase tickets and experience an extravaganza.
Second thing that I noticed are the sky high ticket prices. To be frank, this was uncalled for. I do agree that it is a movie with high budget and has to recover it, but a 50+% increase is too high.
Now, coming on to the movie. Good thing is that, unlike Prabhas, Jr. NTR and Ram Charan can actually dub properly in Hindi and the effort shows. They were convincing (Though not as good as Sharad Kelkar). The movie opens with 3 Rs - stoRy - fiRe - wateR. How each opening scene establishes the plot and characters was well conceived and executed. Highlight for me was RC's intro, it was rugged and brutal.
The movie is mounted on a high budget and SSR has made sure that its evident in each scene. Like, things dont crack, they burst; blood doesn't drip, but flows. The two characters are written with conviction and there is a catch for SSR - He has to handle two super stars, two huge fandoms, so each character gets elevation scenes. Ram has multiple scenes elevating Bheem and vice versa. The first half is a mix of mystery and drama, while the second half is mix of drama and emotions.
What makes the first half exciting is the fact that you yearn for the reveal and endgame, and there is a battle of coincidences that titillates you. Most films have 3 arcs and SSR has modified this a bit to have 4 arcs, and all his films have crests during the interval. Be it Bhoomika thrusting a rod into NTR in Simhadri, a fly giving a warning in Eega or coronation scene in BB2, he has a knack for giving audience a high before interval. And here too, he has done that with the animal-truck scene. IMO, the best pre interval scene in ages.
Now, with that kind of precedence, the movie has to have an equally engaging follow up in second half, but, it meanders, crawls and struggles to reach the climax. The second half is weak with predictable twists. Two things stood out in second half - Komuram Bheem's punishment scene and Ajay Devgn flashback. Sadly, the climax is not one among them. It's rushed and abrupt. One of the weakest endings in SSR's catalog.