Director Raja Mithran's intentions aren't really at fault in Ayyanaar since he wants to present a masala film in a slightly different manner. But his execution messes up his intentions. So the regular revenge flick ends up being neither different nor entertaining.

Ayyanaar opens with Prabha(Aadhi) burying his dead younger brother Saravanan(Vishnu Priyan) and hiding the news from his family. We then learn of his enmity with his brother mostly on account of Saravanan being breadwinner of the family and Prabha temporarily working as a volleyball coach at a women's college while waiting for Central Government job through the sports quota. After a big fight, Prabha walked out of the house. Now that his brother's dead, he becomes a goon for politicians.

The film starts with a good hook as we see Aadhi bury his brother. It becomes clear soon after that the director's intention is to misdirect us and generate suspense about the reasons behind Aadhi's act. So he presents the movie out of order by jumping to different times in the past at two different times. But this throws the screenplay completely out of whack. There are many unanswered questions(if Aadhi walked out in anger after the incident at the wedding, how is he at home as though nothing happened when his brother calls?), the transition from the flashback to the present isn't obvious the first time and the characters too don't behave consistently between segments. So the film feels confusing and incoherent.

One of the tactics the director uses for the misdirection is to showcase the enmity between Aadhi and his brother and Aadhi's resulting unhappiness and anger. But these segments are unbelievable since they are so over-the-top. With Aadhi having a temporary job and waiting for another, his brother's taunts and his father's anger make no sense while his mother seems to shift her attitude and preference a lot. Aadhi's behavior is also questionable since he chooses to hide things unnecessarily, creating friction and increasing the tension. So many of his troubles at home seem to be his fault.

While there was some action earlier too, the film turns into a full-fledged action film after Aadhi joins hands with the politicians. The politicians' plans are superficial and simplistic but the suspense about Aadhi's real motives is maintained well and isn't clear until he explains it explicitly. The violence naturally gets upped during these portions but the fights, especially the one between Aadhi and Ravi Kale, are choreographed well.

After a couple of different roles in Mirugam and Eeram, Aadi slips into the masala hero role quite comfortable. Meera Nandhan surprisingly has even less to do than the heroine usually does in a masala as fter a flaky start to the romance, she is sent off on a volleyball tour! Santhanam too suffers the same fate as he shows up only in the flashbacks. Thaman gives a good number in Aathaadi Aathaadi... but the other songs don't really register.