Viduthalai Part 2 movie review: Vijay Sethupathi powers Vetri Maarans sequel where ideology outweighs intimate storytelling [Video]

During one of Viduthalai Part 2’s best scenes, a brief and fleeting moment features a leaf falling on an unconscious Perumal Vaathiyaar (Vijay Sethupathi). It’s as if nature wants to wake him up to stop the proceeding act of injustice. When that does not work, nature amps it up with a dose of rain that awakens him, literally and figuratively. Moments like these populate Vetri Maaran’s Viduthalai Part 2, his most politically charged film yet that leaves you wishing it had more to offer.

The first Viduthalai film followed the journey of Constable Kumaresan (Soori), a newly recruited constable who had no choice but to get quickly acclimatised to the harsh conditions of his unit and the harsher treatment his peers mete out to the villagers safeguarding Vaathiyaar. Viduthalai Part 2 sidelines the story of the paltry cop and instead, focuses on the trials and tribulations of Vaathiyaar by showcasing the path — laden with blood, sweat …