The most interesting thing about the first HIT (HIT: The 1st Case) was its tortured-by-the-past protagonist Vikram, played effectively by Vishwak Sen. After the first few minutes of KD in HIT 2, I assumed that by going bigger for the sequel, the filmmakers decided to introduce some of the old misogyny-as-masala tropes for wider appeal. Without spoiling the events of the film, let me assure you this is not really the case, that it is more subversive than it initially promises to be, and for most of its runtime, happens to be a riveting procedural that stacks tension and atmosphere like few other Telugu thrillers. It is a shame, then, that it shares the same central flaw that HIT had—that it comes apart somewhat at its denouement.
In well-constructed murder mysteries, the denouement always lands as an aha! moment because we realize that the clues have always pointed to the killer, but we have been prevented from arriving at the right conclusion because the story has hidden the connecting thread cleverly. Both HIT and HIT 2 are deeply interested in the forensic details of the crime, in providing an abundance of clues, some of which click together by the end, but they don’t play fair—HIT 2 keeps a crucial piece of information concerning the identity of the killer hidden (something that would have been revealed by a simple background check) only for it to surface as a surprise later. When it does, the face-off between the hero and the villain devolves into farce, which, given how well-crafted the lead up to that point was, seems like a different film.
