L2: Empuraan

I was always skeptical about how good a sequel to Lucifer which goes international can get, and the trailers made me feel like it would be a technically solid but overall okay film, and with that thought this film met my expectations.

The technical side is incredibly done. The ambition behind this film is huge. Switching between international dealings with British intelligence, cartel faceoffs in Africa and the Middle East, the politics in Kerala, and riots in North India, it should still feel like the same movie. In terms of writing, there's so much more to be desired, but the technical side is where they compensate the most. The coloring was well done to make that consistent feel to all of it by giving a larger-than-life cinematic feel which also made some of the actor's skin feel AI-generated but I won't really complain about it considering what they were trying to do. The lighting on the other hand is what worked the best for me. The use of shadows, silhouettes, etc was so pleasing to see but the writing and music didn't step up to make those scenes more impactful.

The movie felt really long, there were a lot of things that felt repeated, some from the previous part and some in this same movie itself. A lot of stuff in the first half just felt very predictable and the stuff that is meant to be intriguing simply felt flat. They really tried to compensate for it firstly by incredible production quality and making, but along with that they also used real-life incidents as well as parallels with so many important political milestones. But the most hilarious attempts were the constant not at all subtle imageries like the "Ls" throughout the movie. There are so many other imageries here that are so on the face that it loses all the intrigue that they were able to create in Lucifer where it was subtle.

I was a bit bored in the first half because of how flat it felt, but the second half was really entertaining to me. Even though it still felt overlong, the action sequences were fun and the build-up to them was also pretty good. Manju Warrier's arc was well done which may be the only character with a proper character arc in this movie, unlike Lucifer. Surprisingly Antony's cameo was damn well too. I can't believe how well he was presented here.

Overall, even though there were so many things that didn't work in this for me and it's not as good as Lucifer which itself wasn't as great to me as it was to a lot of people, this was still fun to watch. The production quality and a few scenes that worked really well, as well as watching Mohanlal and Prithviraj fighting together made this worth it for me.

While it is a movie from lucifer franchise but empuran doesnt meet the expectations and lack of story telling is the major issue. 2nd half is just ok overall beliw average movie. The main positives are the location and casting. Bgm was totally disappointing, and lady characters also doest meet expectations. Story was little lagging. Director failed in making the emotional attachment and the songs also not giving a fresh feel. The major negative is the duration of the movie and over expectations by the filim crew. New technics was brilliantly used and climax is just ok. Overall its not a decent watch one.

With all the budget and solid starcast, if only they had a good screenplay.

Fire Murali gopy and get someone new to write Lucifer 3 .

All the layers and symbolisms from Lucifer is missing in empuraan and is replaced with flashy pointless scenes . Movie was going good in the first act then maybe the makers thought screw this and let's throw random bs.

Manju warrier was the only saving grace. Except her makeover saree in one key scene. That was off putting .

Tovinos character arc and his big political decision doesn't make any sense.

Prithviraj as Zayed is really good but has placed himself as an equal or even better than the titular protagonist. Ahem, conflict of interest. By the third act, KA becomes like a secondary character in his own film.

Deepak Devs score is crap. Antony Perumbavoor and his son doing glorified cameos sums up the essence of this movie.

Mohanlal is at his best and does what he can do with his enigmatic - more than life character in this wasted multi million opportunity of a promising sequel. Still he is nowhere close to the amazing Stephen Nedumpally we saw in Lucifer.

His attire looks like an unintentional parody. Wonder who is the fasion terrorist for his costumes as KA.

In short KA nexus and its dealings feel like written by a 11 year old who is fascinated by newly found conspiracy theories.

Haven't been let down by any other movie in recent times like this.

The Good Great visual treat, fantastic sets, very realistic. Locations are awesome, very good casts from Hollywood, Bollywood and Mollywood. Very few dialogues but still Mohanlal shines.

The Bad Story has a weak and predictable arc, a lot of credit has been given to the writer, yes writers should be given credit, but not this one, not one original idea or plot, just rehash or old tried and tested ones.

The Ugly Loopholes Galore: Shotgun shots produce rifle bullet effects. An unepected jungle running scene has people being picked off my hidden ropes as if its planned. A tree is set fire to, just for effects. Fight sequence go on for too long, you see 7 thugs attacking but during fight scenes 20 of them are being beaten up. Riots is shown completley one sided, and the worst of the riots is put together for people to endure. Why the CM should switch sides when he has won and is already ruling is pointless and not explained at all, its done just to fit the storyline. Small budget films like Kishkindha Kandam, Jaya Jaya Jaya he, Rekhachitram, Officer is executed better.

In an effort to make a pan Indian film Prithvi forgot what made malayalam films good. Hope there is some meat in L3.

I watched the movie yesterday and noticed that the director (or someone involved) seemed to have a hidden agenda influencing the narrative. The first half had no real connection to the previous part , making it feel somewhat disconnected. However, I believe the filmmaker achieved their target without any cost.

The movie touches on various political issues in Kerala, highlighting the weaknesses of its leaders and referencing sensitive incidents. Given the nature of these topics, it should have undergone stricter censorship before release. While having a business-driven mindset is understandable, it should not come at the cost of manipulating history.

That said, the movie excels in its technical aspects-especially the action sequences and choreography, which were executed brilliantly. Overall, it's a commendable attempt, but it falls short of being a complete success.

Thanks!