Border 2 Trailer Review: I watched the Border 2 trailer with a very simple expectation: Show me respect for the legacy. Show me honesty in execution. What I got instead was two and a half minutes of shouting, rushed VFX, and nostalgia being pushed so hard it almost feels desperate.
First Reaction: Why Is Everyone Screaming?
You can’t confuse volume with emotion. From the very first cut, the trailer feels like it’s trying to assault you into patriotism. Every second scene has someone yelling. Mostly Sunny Deol. Sometimes for no clear reason.
Plane crashes? Sunny screams. Tank fires? Sunny screams. Bomb explodes? Sunny screams. At one point, I genuinely felt like if I stood up to grab water, Sunny Deol would shout at me personally. This isn’t intensity. This is exhaustion.
And look, Sunny Deol is a legend. No debate there. But he’s 70 now, and the trailer doesn’t hide that. The screams don’t feel powerful anymore; they feel strained. Instead of goosebumps, the first thought that crossed my mind was: “Was all this really necessary?”
Nostalgia Is Doing All the Heavy Lifting
Border 2 is not selling itself on quality right now. It’s selling itself on Border (1997), and that’s dangerous. Border (1997) worked because it felt real. Minimal effects. Real sets. Real conviction. The patriotism came from restraint, not noise.
This trailer? It’s the opposite. Everything feels exaggerated, performances, background score, emotions, and especially the VFX.
The VFX Problem (This Is the Real Issue)
I don’t say this lightly: The VFX in the trailer looks unfinished at best and straight-up fake at worst. Jets break apart like LEGO pieces. Warships look like remote-control toys. Tank shots feel like mobile game ads you accidentally click while watching a video.
What makes it worse is how clearly the makers know this. You can see it in the editing.
- The Teaser had longer shots → people noticed bad CGI
- Trailer has hyper-fast cuts → so you don’t have time to notice
That’s not fixing the problem. That’s hiding it. Brightness has been cranked up. Shots are trimmed down to milliseconds. But even then, the artificial look doesn’t go away. And before someone says “VFX artists failed”, no. This is a production issue, not an artist issue.
Overworked teams, tight deadlines, and budget misallocation. That’s what it looks like on screen.
Varun Dhawan: Accent Matters, Especially Here
Varun Dhawan is playing Major Hoshiar Singh Dahiya, a Param Vir Chakra awardee from Haryana. Accent matters. Body language matters. Precision matters. In the trailer, his Haryanvi sounds off. Sometimes it slips into Rajasthani territory, sometimes it feels like a rehearsed imitation rather than lived-in speech.
This isn’t nitpicking. When you’re portraying a real war hero, authenticity is non-negotiable. Varun has proven himself before, in Badlapur, October, and Sui Dhaaga. He’s capable. But from this trailer alone, it doesn’t look like enough groundwork was done.
Fast Cuts, Loud Music, Thin Substance
Another thing that stood out: The trailer is edited like it’s scared. Scared you’ll notice the flaws. Scared you’ll pause and look closely. Scared you’ll ask questions. So it keeps moving. Fast. Louder. Bigger. But when everything is loud, nothing stands out.
PR Noise vs Audience Reality
YouTube comments are already flooded with identical praise-heavy reactions. Same tone. Same words. Same emotional cues. Meanwhile, genuine criticism is being brushed off as “anti-national.” That’s a cheap defense.
Critiquing filmmaking choices does not equal disrespecting the army. In fact, sloppy representation does more harm than honest criticism ever could.
Also Read: One Two Cha Cha Chaa Review: Ashutosh Rana Steals the Show in This Wild Comedy Road Trip
Border 1 vs Border 2: A Painful Comparison
From just the trailer, Border (1997) looks more grounded and sincere than Border 2 does in 2026. And that shouldn’t happen. Border 2 had better tech, bigger budgets, decades of learning, and still chose spectacle over soul.
Final Thoughts: Hope, But With Heavy Doubt
Could the film still surprise us? Yes. Trailers aren’t the full movie. Performances could land better in context. Emotional beats might breathe on the big screen. But based purely on what’s been shown:
- Weak VFX
- Overreliance on shouting
- Nostalgia-driven casting
- Defensive PR tactics
This doesn’t feel like a film made to honor history. It feels like a film made to cash in on it. And that’s what hurts the most.
My Verdict (Based on Trailer Only)
Disappointing, loud, and technically underwhelming—saved only by legacy and curiosity. Now I genuinely want to hear from you. Did this trailer work for you, or did it feel like nostalgia being pushed too hard?
We’ll see how the full film holds up. Until then, this trailer didn’t earn the respect it was asking for.
