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Every year has its share of eagerly anticipated movies that earn hype from pre-release word of mouth. 2000 had many such movies but was a good year since movies like Hey Ram and Alaipayuthey stood upto their expectations. Ajith's Citizen, with reports of Ajith appearing in nine different get-ups, was the first such hotly anticipated movie of this year. But the movie proves to be too much for its debutante director, who lets down the potentially exciting thriller with low-key thrills, ludicrous fights and loopholes galore.

When the movie starts, Antony(Ajith) is all set to embark upon a war and to do so, assumes a new identity. He is now Abdulla, a mechanic. The war itself starts after two years, during which time he becomes the target of a romantic attack from Indu(Vasundhara Das) and earns a good name in society. Wearing a number of disguises and adopting the name of Citizen, he kidnaps three prominent figures in society, the three men responsible for the tragedy that befell his village. Sarojini(Nagma) is the CBI officer hot on his tracks.

With Ajith's efforts to kidnap the three men and frequent mention of the name Athipatti, our expectations are raised as to the reason behind his quest. Thankfully, the flashback sequence does justice to these expectations. It is quite harrowing and well executed. The way that the kid is saved at the end is very touching, apart from providing a solid reason for Ajith's comment about him not being alone in the world. The following courtroom sequence features some sharp dialogs and the punishment meted out to the villains by Ajith is unique and effective.

While Ajith's disguises are at the center of the movie, it is Nagma's chase after him that offers some of the best portions of the movie. Her undeterred excursions to the collectors' offices, brought about by the division of the districts, and the search for information about Athipatti are exciting and realistically done. We are shocked as we gradually realise what happened to Athipatti and the rain provides the perfect setting for the conclusion of her search. The excavation is handled at the right pace and the eventual discovery is shocking.

While the movie is clearly a 'masala' offering, the two fight sequences take things a little too far. The sequence where Ajith faces off against policemen is a copy of the sequence in the Hollywood vampire flick Blade. But the sequence is copied as is and what makes sense in the English version looks ludicrous here as Ajith bares his teeth in vampire style, flies into the air and walks up walls. The chase in the forest with Ajith sprinting horizontally among trees falls in the same laughable category. Several other sequences, like the theme of a man out for revenge because of a sad past, his MO of a letter signed Citizen, Ajith's makeup as the old man and the character of the old man who is after him, all remind us of Indian.

Recent reports talked about the length of the movie being too long and the editing needed to trim it down. That might be the reason for the number of unanswered questions and loose ends scattered throughout the movie. For example, there is no explanation of how Pandiyan himself lived through the tragedy. Nagma talks about Ajith's first two letters containing symbols of animals but no explanation is given for them. There is no hint of where Ajith takes the men he has kidnapped. On the other hand, the sequences involving Vasundara are the ones which beg to be edited out. The double entendre dialogs during their initial meetings at the mechanic shop are vulgar and the song sequences are abrupt and unnecessary.

For all the talk about his performance in the movie, Ajith has precious little to do apart from being buried under tons of make-up. The only segment which offers him scope is the flashback and his makeup and dialect here are impressive. The talk he has with Vasundara is the only other opportunity he gets to emote but he hams it up. Vasundara and Nagma fall on two opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to acting and both share equal blame for the ineffectiveness of their performances. Vasundara struggles to show any kind of expression on her face and her wooing of Ajith lacks cuteness. Nagma overacts and the ill-suited voice is even more damaging. Meena is wasted in a miniscule role. Hanifa raises a few laughs while the rest of the cast is adequate.

Makeup is not too impressive with the disguise of the fat minister being especially artificial. The sequences with the old freedom-fighter and the collector are the only ones where the disguises are even close to looking natural. Deva's tunes are catchy though a couple of them, Kizhakke Udhikkum... in particular, remind us of older tunes.