User reviews

Ashutosh Gowarikar is a genius and you just cannot complain much about the direction. The sets and cinematography are top-notch which has made it a visual treat. The action sequences are very well executed. About the music, Mohenjo Mohenjo and Tu Hai songs create magic on screens. The background score is sheer brilliance and gives you goosebumps. About the performance, Hrithik Roshan undoubtedly has delivered one of his career best performance. He nails the character head on and proves that only he could have played such character. His transformation from a small former to a lover and then to a fighter is legendary.Pooja Hedge makes a good debut. You will fall for her innocence and grace at the same time. She makes a good pair with Hrithik Roshan too. But we wished to see her more in the film. The supporting cast is OK. As a whole, it's a brilliant movie. Go watch it.

first of all if you want to see new plot then this movie is not for you.I think this movie is like a pioneer and enjoyable if you watch with family or with friends.

Story line : 5 (predictable) Picturisation : 8 (Good one because i think they succeeded in creating old historic time) Action: 7 better than other Bollywood movies which have stupid type action scenes. Acting : 6 Hritik(Hero) done just fine but Pooja Hegde(heroine) just looks beautiful and lovely. Music/Background : 8.5 Rahaman done another good work you. Special Effects : 7 Good Work. So Overall movie is little loose in Story and Acting but if you keep your mind close to movie you will definitely like the movie.

How much we knew about Mohenjo Daro before watching this movie? now I analyze how much do I know about Mohenjo Daro? As we all know from our text books that nothing much is available about this civilization but only the ruins which were discovered around 1920.

So it is safe to say that we see an outright fictionalized account of Mohenjo Daro, it is centered in 2016 BC, where farmers from a small village grow indigo and sell it in Mohenjo Daro. Sarman (Hrithik Roshan), a young man, who sees visions of one-horned animal, vows to go to Mohenjo Daro as he ruminates and thinks he has a connection with Mohenjo Daro. His father Durjan (Nithish Bhardwaj) sends him reluctantly, giving an amulet and warns to open it only when in extreme jeopardy. He comes to Mohenjo Daro, got besotted by Chaani (Pooja Hegde) and engulfs himself in the malevolent and evil practices of the king Maham (Kabir Bedi) and his son Moonja (Arunoday Singh).

We see large set depicting the old era, where Sarman fights with an artificial Crocodile and it looked atrocious, we are living in the period where we have seen an immaculate versions of CGI technology, people cannot distinguish real or fake. Why can the filmmakers not make use of it? And why are they presenting these stale graphics to the people who have seen Bahubali and some of them just seen The Jungle Book?

The screenplay is filled with clichés because once it is a loud love story then a revenge saga then a rescue operation of mankind against a goddamn dam.

The characterization is hackneyed as characters were introduced by characters. Here we again loose the leading lady, she has only one expression and could not even do justice to a scene where her father dies. Other actors play their parts flawlessly as everyone were seasoned. However, a sloppy script has never been saved by an ensemble cast.

The costume design is appalling; it could have been better because we can see the amount of money thrown into every frame. A.R. Rahmans's music is ordinary and it does not have the melody which we have heard before.

Overall, a boredom with cheesy script and clichéd characters. If you are a hardcore Hrithik Roshan fan and want to see one or two good fight sequences, watch it or wait till it airs on one the TV channels.

5/10.

Just finished watching a pirated copy of this anal travesty. Slumdogs cannot create art. They just can't. My blood is boiling, I can imagine someone paying a 150 odd bucks to sit through it. God where does one even begin.

Hrithak can't act for *beep* Like he has that one "aura" in every film I've seen of his. The brooding angry man about to burst like a bubble, or the doey eyed love struck dancing moron. Nothing else. This guy should be blacklisted from showing his face to me. But of course an actor can only do what-I-or us directors want them to do.

Ashu-tosh "Sir" seems to be aping Star Wars A new hope what with Cambell's Hero Journey template but like 95% of Indians(myself and a few on here I feel excluded) he simply copy pastes the process and commits the cardinal sin of "Indianizing" it. Which means they could've have shot this in the backdrop of 2016 Dharavi and it wouldn't matter. Boy sees girl, falls for her, stuff happens around them, the end. Except it takes 9 Godawful hours(or so it felt) to get to it.

Opening scene pretty much sums up the ordeal. Our immortal lad fights the fakest looking alligator ever put on cinema. Seriously folks, right then and there I looked t my friend and we both had to go buy 3 quarters of Old monk. I mean Lake Placid had a better croc and when was that-1997?, heck, Khoon Bhari Maang had a better animal. Couldn't they like work on the CGI one bit? What the hell goes on in India? I mean at the rolling credits of most Hollywood films I see the Indian drones names fly by....They have all the animation studio here and this is what you get? Same thing with Baahubali....terrible, terrible CGI(as opposed to the gorgeous real locations and sets). Don't they have a rough *beep* screening in this town? More IMPORTANTLY don't these c**k sandwiches realize that showing less is more. Nothing inspired from John Carpenter's innumerable films or Jaws. They could have just shown the tip of the alligator, as they usually appear in real life- and made a great scene out of it. The Alli jumped a few metres😥

Anyho, after killing the reptile he returns home to his village....I'll give them this the practical locations are good. It looks and feels good. There they indulge in the most boring putrid diatribe ever put on screen. Heck, I don't even remember anything of it it was that bad. We meet his obligatory sidekick whose there to explain things and follow Hercules around like a *beep* fat drone. The fat *beep* Hercules has a dream where he seems a Unicorn, but wait....it doesn't look like a horse, more like a pony or sheep(seriously look it up), so its a sheepricorn. It looks at Hercules and now he wants to go to the Holy fable land of Mohen-Jo- Daro. Luke Skywalke, err, I mean Saram(or something similar) decides to go on his Hero's Journey and after some *beep* CGI(really guys the CGI here is terrible, its not even so bad its good). they reach the promised land. What happens next is a daze because I became too drunk. But there's literally nothing happening. Nothing at all. The chick is cute but she cannot act. There is a CGI panning shot from a window to the whole panorama of the city and even on a small screan we couldn't help but cringe, image the terror from the audience POV.

There is a arena battle scene lifted(well sort of, if you can even call it an effort) from the Star Wars prequel and Gladiator except in this case our Hero is victorious when it really doesn't seem like it can happen. Not in this Universe or any other.

The end is again a cheesefest where some river floods the city(I haven't done a lot of reading but is this true or they just made it up) and it is the fakest sickest bunch of scenes put together. Seriously amateur stuff guys. There are exactly 7 cows(guess they couldn't afford after paying Krish his 40 crore) which are repeated in every scene. One scene where Hercules/Mind reader actually tames 3 horses. They're never seen again. These are just minor quibbles and there are a lot of these. Is this the same guy who directed that legendary masterpiece "What's your rashi" with Hercules clone? That film is a masterpiece compared to this travesty.

Don't these guys have script readers, some people who question the product except just Hero worshiping the actor and the director? I hope the film sinks faster than the city did.

If you had to recreate an ancient civilisation, what would you do? If you are Ashutosh Gowariker, and have had lots of experience in excavating the past (Lagaan, Jodhaa Akbar), you would scale it up. Instead of a few hundred years, you would go back a couple of thousands, ditching the merely old for the seriously antique.

Mohenjo Daro, set in Mohenjo-daro of the Indus Valley civilisation, is bigger but certainly not better than these two Gowariker's earlier outings. The sepia tone of the earth and the dwellings is balanced by an array of costumery: everyone looks like they have been handed out unstructured earth-toned garments, which follow the latest fashion du jour. And lest you thought they were not accessorised to the hilt in 2016 BC, perish it: the villainous chief wears a headgear of horns (the happily hamming Kabir Bedi, who carries it off with a raffish air) to an alarmingly tall crown of what looks like feathers, coins and shells sported by the leading lady (the debutant Pooja Hegde, who looks much better without, and may fare better in her next).In between is leading man Hrithik Roshan as poor indigo farmer Sarman, a resident of village Samri of the Sindh province, who has set his heart on going to neighbouring big town Mohenjo-daro. That is where, he is convinced, lie his fate and fortune, and an animal with one horn.Right from the build-up, featuring what is meant to be a thrilling boat ride and a fight with a fake-looking crocodile, all the better to show off Hrithik's rippling chest and ripping valour, Mohenjo Daro is a plod, and a heavily borrowed one to boot: the entry into a forbidden town (which strongly reminds us of Baahubali), the romance with a pretty stranger, the rivalry with a muscle-bound fellow, the unravelling of dark secrets, the saving of a town from a beastly ruler—we've seen so many versions of it before.It beats me how so much time and effort can be spent on creating something meant to be jaw-dropping, but which leaves you sighing at the sheer waste of it all. Just when you think the plot is shifting just a fraction, out pops yet another item number, complete with whirling dervishes (remember Jodhaa Akbar?) and belly dancers: how can you have a Hrithik film without getting him on the floor, even if it is daubed in mud?In Lagaan, there were the evil Brits who wanted more tax from the poor 'gaon-waalon'. In Mohenjo Daro too, along comes the demand for more 'kar-vasooli'. Gowariker also filches from the many Hollywood epics which dump their heroes into an arena and have them fight for their lives: Hrithik faces off with two iron-chested cannibals (Bedi terms them, helpfully, 'narbhakshi') who grunt and growl.

And just in case we were missing something, Sarman does a Noah, launches a massive rescue op, and saves scores of humans and animals, to swelling background music. By then, we're so exhausted that we let the waters of Sindhu Ma float over us, and wait for things to get over.

Mohenjo Daro was one of my most anticipated movies of 2016, and well, it wasn't good. This is probably the most disappointing movie I've seen all year unfortunately. Even though it's directed by the great Ashutosh Gowariker, it has so many problems that make it a very disappointing movie.

As always, I'll start with the positives. Hrithik Roshan is great in this role and by far the best part of the movie. Pooja Hegde is good as the female lead and I can see her as a future Bollywood star. A. R. Rahman's music is phenomenal and certain action scenes were done well. That's about it.

My biggest problem with the film is that it doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be. There's so many story-lines that are left hanging by the end of the film. The plot is so muddled and somewhere in there is a good movie with a good story. Kabir Bedi as the villain is pretty disposable but his character's son is even worse. The last 30 minutes of the movie are a complete awful shoehorned in subplot trying to make Hrithik's character looking like Noah and Moses.

Overall, Mohenjo Daro is an extremely disappointing movie and wasted potential. This could have been another masterpiece for Gowariker but it is a mess of a movie.

Mohenjo Daro gets a D.

Mohenjo Daro, starring Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hegde is a period drama based on ancient Indian civilization, which the whole country feels proud about. The movie showcases the life and day to day activities of ancient times and also revolves around a story of a peasant (Hrithik) who falls in love with a Princess (Pooja). The film has all the elements to entertain the audiences such as old world charm, never seen before spectacles and backdrops, a twist of love, romance and action. The film's action scenes will keep you at the edge of your seat. If ancient civilization excites you, then this film is a must watch under all terms. Director: Ashutosh GowarikarCast: Hrithik Roshan, Pooja Hegde Plot: Mohenjo Daro is set in 2016 BC and showcases ancient Indian civilization in all its glory. Hrithik (Sarman) who plays the role of a simple farmer, lands himself in the town of Mohenjo Daro and is mesmerized by its beauty and grandeur. Sarman comes to the city with a hidden agenda and works as a peasant. During a street mishap he saves the life of Princess Chaani and ends up falling in love with her. Chaani is the chosen one to serve 'Sindhu Ma' who is a river Goddess, and the whole city is very devoted to her. Trouble starts when Sarman abandons his hidden agenda and tries to woo Chaani, but falls afoul to the politician Maham (Kabir Bedi) who wants to rule Mohenjo Daro all by himself as a dictator. Maham's son Moonja, does his best to make Sarman go off route and uses him as a pawn so that his father can seize control of the whole city. To win over Chaani, Sarman has to defeat Maham & Moonja and save the city from destruction at the evil hands of the father-son duo. Will Sarman save the town from the evil whims of Maham & Moonja? Or will he unleash his hidden agenda and destroy the city all by himself? Can he win over the love of his life Chaani? For that you will have to hit the theatres! We're sure you'll never be disappointed. Performances: Hrithik Roshan is back with a bang and has delivered a stellar performance in Mohenjo Daro. His acting skills are on full display and he has pulled off an excellent feat with this one. The dedication he has poured into the action scenes are immense and he has done justice to his role overall. Coming to Pooja Hegde, the actress has managed to pull off both 'sweet and mean' avatars in the film. She can mesmerize you by her sheer beauty and can make you sit at the edge of your seat during her fight scenes. There's no doubt that Pooja Hegde is here to stay in Bollywood and Mohenjo Daro will be an epitome of her success. Technicalities: Ashutosh Gowariker has a lot of experience when it comes to period drama films and has left no stone unturned when it comes to Mohenjo Daro. The ancient city is shown perfectly the way it should be and the larger than life sets will leave you amazed. The film takes you back all the way to 2016 BC and will make you believe that whatever is shown on screen is so damn true. Such is the charismatic work of the film-maker and kudos to him for pulling off such a spectacular feat. The camera angles focus on every inch of the city and its all woven together really well. Thumbs up to the team of Mohenjo Daro on this one! Verdict: A must watch! These kind of movies come rarely in Bollywood and Mohenjo Daro should never be missed at any cost. There is love, drama, action, romance and to top it all, there is an ancient civilization shown so perfectly that you'll end up falling in love with it.I will rate Mohenjo Daro 9 out of 10!! Go and watch

This is the kind of movie why I stopped watching Hindi movies. I was happily enjoying my post workout weekend evening until I picked up a call from one of my friends who pleaded me to come with him and watch this disaster. It's an insult to intelligence. I mean I have seen a lot of bad movies, but this movie is on a different level. Is this directed by the same director who directed the movies like Lagaan and Swades?

This film is such a travesty that I hesitate to honor it by calling it a film (a student from one of the slow learners class could have written a much better story), and the acting is so bad that it could almost be mistaken for a spoof. The voice of Hrithik sounds like Rohit of Koi Mil Gaya, and the new comer Pooja Hedge, she should immediately join acting classes.

This movie is full of absurd logic and inexplicable acting. At one point, I stopped watching the story and started watching scenes thinking how this movie happened. After a bit, I concluded that this was improvisational film-making. They must have handed the actors random lines, given the effects department random props from bankrupt studios, and a pile of CGI rejects from Baahubali. Then they told them to make a movie on a 5000-year-old civilization.

People of Mohenjo Daro may be turning in their graves after hearing what Ashutosh Gorwariker did to their civilization.

I compelled to give any ratings.

PS: This movie true to its name - Mohen Jo Daro.

I usually don't write reviews but after reading reviews from other users I feel obligated to write about this movie. Also I am not getting paid for this review. I feel that movie was great, it depends on the angle you look at. Those who are looking for typical 3rd grade movie this is not for you. Director tried to keep the focus on reality versus adding spices The movie shows what we read in the history. You can't satisfy all population, but those who are looking for something different then typical 3rd grade movie, you will love the movie. It's worth spending $10 and 2.5 hours of your time. Some people have no taste for movies and they are giving bad reviews to such a good movie.

To be frank it was kind of expected after the trailer came out that Mohenjodaro wasn't going to be anything as special as "Lagaan"but still it was an Ashutosh Gowariker movie and possessed hugely talented Hrithik Roshan so I gave it a chance, little did I know what was being offered,believe me it is one of the worst movies ever made in Bollywood.How was this given a green signal and so much of fund is beyond my understanding.

It is a colossal failure by Ashutosh Gowariker in every department be it direction, writing, screenplay or set design.Story is so bloody clichéd that watching it unfold is worse than watching paint dry,in fact its so clichéd that even Ashutosh Gowariker knew that there's no point working hard on the screenplay as it's an impossible task to make it interesting. It is basically a story of a young man who dreams of a unicorn and to find answers (kind of) goes to Mohenjodaro where he finds the evil ruler Kabir Bedi, his son and going to be the love of his life Pooja Hegde. More clichés follow, his father was killed by Kabir Bedi,maybe nobody told Ashutosh that Baahubali just released last year. Or may be someone did, story unravels in such a manner as if Ashutosh knew that "what the hell everyone Knows the story already so what's the point of trying to make it remotely interesting" . Hrithik, Hegde love story is half baked where Hrithik instantly falls in love with Hegde and what is done to make her fall? Yup, instead of goons there is horse attacking her so that Hrithik can save her.Can go on and on and on about how bad it is,ignore all the bots who are praising the movie here,ignore this at all cost.

It's not really bad. But not very good neither. The crocodile is playing really good, very good actor! The unicorn also he plays well. The horses are OK too. I do not want to hurt the humans so... Kabir Bedi was much better when he was younger and even more beautiful in "The Black Corsair"Il corsaro nero(original title)(1976) and "La tigre è ancora viva: Sandokan alla riscossa!"(1977). Pooja Hegde is pretty. The girls dancing on her side are even sexier. Hrithik Roshan he does what he can do. The music and dances are beautiful. If you got nothing else better to do or you are like me and you want to watch all the movies in the world... Seriously now, watch any film by Fellini, Sergio Leone, Antonioni, Bertolucci, De Sica, Monicelli, Risi, Pasolini, Elio Petri, etc.

The film is based on the Indus Valley Civilization (2016 BC to be exact). Though this film is certainly not the best work of neither Ashutosh Gowariker nor Hrithik Roshan, but still the idea to make a film on this subject is a noble one. One should not forget that very little is known about this civilization till date and imagining a story based on that period is not easy. Though I don't have much knowledge about that period so there is no way I can judge the technicalities but still the makers claim that they have done a huge research on the costumes, people and the city in whole. Full marks granted on that field. Though visual effects could be a little more convincing and original. Some shots might remind you of Gladiator or our own Bahubali. The whole river sequence was slightly "out of proportions". Still we should consider that our industry is still taking baby steps in the V.F.X. domain.

But I must say the screenplay is a huge disappointment. There is almost nothing in the story which you could hang on to. An age old tale of a "chosen one" who is destined to do something great. There is as usual a surreal romance across classes of society. The acting part is as loose as the dialogues that are given to them. This film fails on every aspect on which a standard film should excel upon.

Now the pros and cons. PROS: 1) A whole new world which is crafted meticulously through imagination and the little things we know about this fantastic civilization.

2) Cinematography, Costumes and makeup. They deserve a National Award.

3) A.R.Rahman. The music is just perfectly fitting. It narrates the story(in this case even more than the lamely written dialogues).

4) To a certain extent Hrithik Roshan

That's it. Now the ugly part. CONS: 1) The Actors (And I am not even talking about the extras). All the actors seemed to be overacting once in a while.

2) As I told before, the screenplay. You sometimes don't understand what is happening and why that is happening.

3) Pooja Hegde. A poor choice for 'Chaani'. Though she didn't have much to do, as her character was a bit unconvincing, but still she didn't brought anything special to her character from her side.

4) Poorly written dialogues.

4) To a certain extent Hrithik Roshan

Story is so simple, rich girl, poor boy, he has to take revenge of his father death and save the people from evil. Main emphasis of makers was to make this film visually rich without much thinking about what they want to say. Film opening crocodile hunting scene is so amateurish, we have seen lots of amazing VFX work before like in Bahu-Bali. This scene was just to establish protagonist strength but not his wisdom because he assumes that there is just a single crocodile in a river!! And dives with riding crocodile's back deep into river. Screenplay is very much unaffected of era the story belongs. All scenes can easily fit in any time period except costume and locations. Love scenes are just because they have to. There is not a single scene where you can not predict the happening so excitement value is zero. Pre climax fight with two cannibals as they were introduced by the evil, is so fictitious and illogical. Cannibals fight with the male protagonist as they are much interested in showing their fighting strength than hunting a man. It seems that lion is flexing his muscle when he has to prey. Evil gets caught in climax then another extended climax comes as the flood threat by the dam build on river. Initially it was established and said as disadvantage of dam that it has made the villages dry but suddenly it emerges as biggest danger to the main city? Because again makers were relying on showing some lengthy rescue operation. Yes it looks grand but when you are not relating with it then it looks soulless. Performance wise Hritik Roshan is good. Kabir Bedi is fine and rest are just OK. When heroine becomes emotional you feel amused. Hard to believe that music has two stalwarts, A.R.Rehman and Gulzar Sahib.

Movie that taught me not to trust the reviews. I was skeptical about the reviews guys. I have to admit that I went with very low expectation to watch this movie. But after seeing good reviews, I did't expected the movie to be this bad. This movie was even worst than i expected. There are hardly any memorable moments in this one. The performances of lead cast were promising but the movie as a whole seemed like a joke. Comparing it to movies like LAAGAN is the insult of historic genre. The dialogue are very poor and most of the time acting is unnatural. VFX is also sub par and seems unreal. A lot better can be done with this budget.

I am not comparing it to the Hollywood 'cause there is nothing worth comparing in this movie. This is just a type of movie that takes the audience for granted. The movie is unnecessarily long and doesn't offer anything new to the audience. Believe me a movie lot better than this could be made in 100 crores. There are so many loop holes in the story that the end result is a clumsy mess. The movie had so much potential but it was wasted. The movie might carter to special type of audience. But personally I would NOT RECOMMEND any one to waste their money on this movie. Instead go and watch something like Rustum which is at least better than this one.

Somehow you will feel a historic Hollywood touch. When I was a kid, Gladiator was my favorite movie, Mohenjo Daro touched me because I am living very near from it.

Now come to the main reason for what I am here to tell you people some points that how this Pakistan destroyed many historical places in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. I remember when I was a kid, then the pakistani army attacked our hometown 'Dera Bugti' in Balochistan, next day army came and first destroyed our historical statues, places and told everyone to erase your traditional and cultural stories and forget your legend heroes. They forced our people and within an year at least 90 percent of people left the town.

Pakistan always been destroying history because there own history is fake one and they trying to impose their hoax history on everyone living within it, But I get happy when it comes to India. They respect True History.

I thank sir Ashutosh Gowariker for creating movies like Mohendo Daro, Lagaan and my all time favorite Swades.

Went to watch this movie with my family with very low expectations. But boy, it was below the low expectations already set! This whole movie insults the intelligence, and is a very poor example of a historic movie.

This subject had a lot of potential, but it was thrown away. Nothing inspires in this movie, and I sincerely believe that you should avoid it. It appears to me that the movie would have finished off in 1 hr. So, Mr. Gowarikar would have added more stuff into it, here, and there, and a bit there, and a bit here, and a little more here, and some more there, till it stretched out to fit the entire time.

This movie doesn't help you pass time, it actually butchers the time in a gory way. Avoid!

Watched Mohenjo Daro today! Had 0 expectations because of some negative reviews. But the movie surprised me! It is BRILLIANT! The first half sets the tone of the movie. It can be a bit slow for some viewers, but if you love History, you will surely love the sets, the small small things which Ashutosh has taken care of. The second half starts with a Bang! And I will not tell you what the bang is! The Arena Fight is AWESOME! The CLIMAX is Breathtaking! The music and BGM gives goosebumps! It is certainly one of Hrithik's best performance. He is the only actor in Bollywood who can do such roles with such finesse.

I will urge all cinema lovers, who love good movies, to GO OUT AND WATCH THIS MOVIE IN THEATRE. You will not see something like this in near future.

Mohenjo Daro is a must watch for its breathtaking stunts, awesome visuals, melodious music, and power-packed performance of Hrithik Roshan!

Go Go Go! Watch Mohenjo Daro!

The story is formulaic, down right predictable and unexciting. The characters right from the hero to the Supporting characters to the extras are clichèd, The hero who's destined to save everyone, Check. The heroine, the beautiful heroine for the hero to court, Check. The chubby supportive sidekick, Check. The loving worrying parents/guardians, Check. The bad guy with bad guy looks and his son who is equally bad, Check. ohh and the clichè village extras who agrees with whatever the hero say, also Check!

The film loses focus at times, and the pacing is hurt mostly by the romance angle, it takes way too much time, and there isn't much chemistry between the actors.

The music is good, and the choreography is nice and fun to watch. The original background score is also amazing, it fits with the atmosphere of the film, and it'ss enhances the fighting sequences.

The performances are fine; Rothik Roshan is good in lead role, he's got the looks and all and he played the character as it should played, nothing special about his performance. Pooja Hegde looks good and does a good job when it comes dancing, other than she's bland. Kabir Bedi played the typical villian and does a fine job at that. The rest provide good support.

The production value is spot-on: The city layout of Mohenjo daro is breathtaking, it's very detailed. The costumes and props are all very fitting of the era. I particularly like how they use to tell time.

All in all, Mahenjo Daro has great entertaining value with its stylish production design and costumes but suffers from derivative and formulaic story and characters.

Rating

4/10

This long historical (!) fantasy drama is watchable despite anachronistic script and weak lead actress. Hrithik makes a game effort and succeeds in holding our attention. Ok climax marred by dodgy visual effects.