Dhoom (2004)

Star Power: Abhishek Bachchan, Esha Deol, John Abraham

Overall Rating: 4 out of 7 chilies

Music: 4 out of 7 chilies

Choreography: 3 out of 7 chilies

Synopsis:
Mumbai is in the grip of a wave of robberies commited by a gang of thieves riding high-speed motorcycles and ace investigator ACP Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) is called in to find them and bring them to justice. Tearing himself away from his beautiful wife, Sweety (Rimi Sen), Jai begins to investigate the bike-racing world and soon meets up with Ali (Uday Chopra), a happy-go-lucky racer who's not above bending a few laws to make a buck. After Jai puts the pressure on, Ali agrees to help him catch the thieves, but catching up to them may take more than just speed...

Comments:
This first installment of the Dhoom series is a good introduction to both of the main male characters, but there's not a lot of substance to this film. There's just a few too many scenes spent in closeups on the female leads' hips and not enough time spent really getting to know the characters. The dynamic between Jai and Ali is quite well developed and we get to understand Ali quite well, but no one else has much of a personality. Little attempt is made to humanize the thieves or the hero - Jai wants to catch them because it's justice, and the thieves steal because they want money - no backstory, no motivation, they just do. The songs are good, but not really outstanding - "Dilbara" is cute and sweet, and "Dhoom Machale" has a good beat. Basically, if you're looking for a fun action flick, I would recommend you give this one a pass and go for Dhoom 2 instead.