Anupama Chopra reviews Border 2, the sequel to J.P. Dutta's blockbuster war film released nearly 30 years ago, now directed by Anurag Singh and set during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Anupama praises the first half for juggling multiple characters, action, and emotion with dexterity, highlighting Anurag's forte for distilling tears from a few lines of dialogue. The film features four leading men—Sunny Deol as Lieutenant Colonel Fateh Singh Kaler, Varun Dhawan as Major Hoshiar Singh Dahiya, Diljit Dosanjh as ace pilot Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, and Ahan Shetty as Navy man Rawat—with Sunny delivering the best hero entry through an elaborate fight with nifty footwork on landmines. Anupama notes that Mona Singh is lovely as Fateh's beleaguered wife, and Diljit's irrepressible charm brings levity that lights up the screen.
However, Anupama finds the film wobbles in its three-hour-twenty-minute runtime, with sea battles featuring rudimentary VFX, land battles becoming eye-glazing, and enemy soldiers portrayed as buffoons that never make the stakes feel high enough. She observes the film leans heavily into nostalgia for the original, including casting Ahan who can't match the stony strength of his father Suniel Shetty as Bhairon. Patriotism becomes a substitute for plot, and while Sunny nearing 70 can still do the heavy lifting with panache, the war scenes grow repetitive even as the emotional ones hit the high notes.
