Ever since Priyanka Chopra's Hollywood debut was announced, the fans have been going gaga over it. Even though Baywatch hasn't released here in India yet, the critics abroad have watched it and panned it left, right and center. The film, directed by Seth Gordon, stars Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Zac Efron and Alexandra Daddario in key roles and features Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra as the antagonist, Victoria Leeds.
With a rating of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film might not have impressed the critics but Chopra's performance surely has. Many international critics said the full potential of the Bollywood actress hasn't been tapped and most agreed that while she is underused in the film, she commands attention in the scenes she features in.
Matt Goldberg of Collider writes, "The real standout is Chopra. I’ve never seen her TV series Quantico, but she owns the film every second she’s on screen. Victoria isn’t a particularly memorable villain on the page, but Chopra is commanding, and when she gets called an aspiring Bond villain, it made me want her to be the villain in the next Bond movie."
"If there’s one good thing that can come from the wreckage of this movie, it’s for Chopra’s career in Hollywood films to take off," he adds.
Forbes' Scott Mendelson highlights that Chopra has less screen-time as compared to others. "Chopra has fun as the baddie, but she stays in the background until the end of the movie and really only gets one big scene at the end of the picture," he writes. He also wishes that "more movies had female super villains."
Jacob Knight of Birth. Movies. Death labels the film as "weird as hell" but calls Chopra, the Indian Goddess. The review reads, "While the Indian goddess brings a (sadly underutilized) brainy charisma to every scene that feels fit for a better picture, Bass’ pepperoni-nippled Ronnie is telling her that he learned to dance at Hebrew School."
Jack Shephard of Independent, mentions in his review, that "despite being incredibly talented, Chopra is clinically underused, the script offering her nothing to work with."
Another reviewer to hail Chopra's performance is Radio Times' James Luxford, who writes, "Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra judges the mood perfectly, playing the villain with exactly the right amount of dramatic flair (“I’m not a Bond villain… yet” she teases during an interrogation)."
"The only other highlight is Priyanka Chopra as nefarious entrepreneur Victoria Leeds, who outshines pretty much anyone she’s in a scene with," writes IGN's Gav Murphy.
He further adds, "Chopra’s engaging and interesting and is the only character that speaks with any kind of distinctive cadence, with the rest of the cast falling into the exact same pattern of delivery of their hackneyed gags. None of them are given much of anything to do, either."
Agreeing that Chopra was the "underused villain of the piece", The Guardian's Steve Rose also said that it "looks like she was contractually obliged to show as much flesh as permissible."
The film is set to release in India on June 2.
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