L2: Empuraan

Rating - 3.5/5

A socio-political mass action thriller executed with brilliant technicality giving an edge of the seat experience.

The story introduces us to the world of the Alpha lord Khureshi Abr'am who controls the Gold Diamond nexus globally through his dual identity. The story further explores whether this fallen angel will survive his war against the Jihadi groups, International Crime Nexus & Drug cartels from swallowing God's own Country and on how he exert influence on the political landscape of Kerala.

Murali Gopi has scripted the story well enough to accommodate and intertwine the story in the international terrains while being rooted to God's own Country. Prithviraj has excelled in bringing out Mohanlal in the most epic and stylish avatar like never before with slow motion and good BGM's. This can be termed as the best tribute a fanboy director can give to his idol on the reels. Prithviraj has brilliantly portrayed some sequences on screen in a way better than when it is was put into words. The first half stands superior storywise where as the latter half of the movie lost traction and felt like a usual revenge drama towards the end. Topnotch making but the final music felt like a medium to appeal and attract Bollywood audience.

Mohanlal made a subtle performance just by his looks and stance. Abhimanyu Singh,Sukant Goel,Manju Warrier,Nandu,Karthikeya Dev,Eriq Ebouaney,Andrea Tivadar,Jerome Flynn and Kishore made impressive performances.

Exceptional Cinematography by Sujith Vasudev especially the night visuals and wide angle shots in the foreign landscape. Deepak Dev's BGM's in the intro portions were stunning. Hats off to the Production designer Mohandas in precisely putting the director's vision onto the screen.

A larger than life visual marvel in Malayalam pulled off in a grandeur scale with epic performances and top-notch production quality makes it a must watch on big screens.

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 was extremely impressed by Prithviraj's direction and the overall making of the film. The visuals, cinematography, and background score were top-notch and clearly demonstrated the effort and vision behind the project. The scale of the film and its technical aspects were commendable, setting high expectations for the story that followed.

Unfortunately, the content of the film didn't quite live up to those expectations. It felt cluttered with unnecessary elements, many of which didn't add any real value to the narrative. One of the biggest disappointments was Mohanlal's portrayal of the character Abraham. His performance lacked the depth and expression we've come to expect from him, especially when compared to his iconic role as Stephen. The character of Abraham came across as flat and unimpactful, leaving fans longing for the familiar charisma and emotional depth that Stephen brought to the screen.

Additionally, the movie was bogged down by an excessive number of characters who seemed irrelevant to the plot. Their presence detracted from the main story and weakened the overall impact of the film. It felt like the movie was trying to juggle too many storylines, which ultimately left it feeling disjointed and unfocused.

In conclusion, while the craftsmanship and ambition behind the film are commendable, the content and storytelling failed to meet the mark. What could have been a gripping, memorable experience ended up feeling bloated and underwhelming.

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.