This
movie shows its polish almost immediately. Some very professional looking titles
appear, then fade into a black-and-white photograph of our five principle
characters as the title card appears. A young man is shown looking at the photo.
His concentration is broken by a voice from off-screen, telling him that his
vehicle is ready. As we go outside we see a hooded man being led to the
transport van and our young police officer follows closely behind. As the van
speeds along the streets, we see him begin to recall an event that occurred
three weeks prior.
The
screen takes on a muted dark tone as we see a large number of police in riot
gear trotting through some ruined streets. They close in on a dilapidated house
and begin roughly searching through all of the furniture and beating up the
people there, demanding information. The police discover a cache of weapons and
money, and demand to know where it came from. When the husband says he doesn't
know where they came from, one of the officers pulls his gun on him and demands
to know where the man's son, Ansari, is hiding.
We cut to Ansari being interrogated. The police have his hands pinned under a
wooden rod and are pressing down on his wrists with it. As he cries out in pain,
they demand for him to name his accomplices. All the while, the other cops are
taunting him and accusing him of being a traitor and a scoundrel. They ask if
the "ISI guys" are his masters, then begin slamming his face into the table when
he doesn't reply.
We cut from that unpleasant sight to a press conference being held by the
police chief. He has a large table full of automatic weapons spread out in front
of him. He tells the reporters that all of these guns were recovered from Iqbal
Ansari's house, thus proving he is a member of the ISI (we'll find out more
about them later) and a terrorist. They attribute the recent riots in the area
to his actions, and have arrested him under the anti-terrorist law.
We see Ansari is also present at the conference and is constantly having
cameras thrust into his face. The chief says that he will be transported to
Mumbai the following day by a special task force so that he may appear in court.
We cut to the next day, and see a convoy of police vehicles departing the
station. They don't get very far before they are attacked. The passenger of the
main vehicle is shot through the window and the vehicle swerves wildly. They hit
a hydrant and the van is disabled. The driver gets out and draws his weapon.
This whole sequence is really, really slick. Most of it is shot in the really
sharp, high-speed exposure style (such as in "Black Hawk Down") so you
can see every little bit of debris and dirt as it is thrown into the air. It
lends a very intense atmosphere to the battle and makes it very engaging.
Automatic
gunfire erupts from the surrounding buildings as the police scramble for cover.
Several don't make it to safety in time and are cut down in a hail of bullets.
The battle rages for several minutes as we see the police are surrounded by
gunmen on the rooftops and balconies overlooking the square. With each volley of
fire, more and more policemen are killed. One of the Jeeps explodes as it is
hit, launching several people through the air. One of which lands in the shelter
of the large police van. We see things from his point of view for a moment, as
everything appears in slow motion.
An officer engulfed in flames runs past him flailing madly. Another
officer pauses to take a shot and is hit by automatic gunfire. Another officer
bends over to check on the stunned man and is hit. His body falls on the
stunned cop. This jerks him back to clarity and he rolls the dead man off of
him.
The
wounded man sneaks along the side of the van and blows the lock off the door. He
ducks inside and grabs Ansari, and asks him if he thinks he is about to be
freed. He drags Ansari out of the van and they take cover behind the scorched
ruins of a small car as bullets impact all around them. He scours the area and
sees an abandoned storefront nearby with a sliding metal door. He grabs Ansari
and races for the building. Ansari is thrown inside as the officer pulls down on
the sliding door, taking many hits as he does so. In one of the more stylish
deaths I've yet seen, as the door closes we see bullet hits popping holes in the
thin metal of the door and light shines through.
