L2: Empuraan

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!

Rather than concentrating on the narrative and expanding the 'Lucifer' universe, it seems the creators prioritised showcasing the impressive scale and opulence they achieved, particularly striking for an industry that rarely ventured into such lavish and extravagant realms.

This emphasis is evident at frequent intervals, especially when they lead the protagonist to exotic locations, make him do sleek, slo-mo action, all while maintaining an air of sophistication and grandeur.

Now do not get me wrong, I am not opposing the ambition to go grand and embrace flamboyance, particularly when the film's budget allows for such creative freedom. However, that should not compromise the quality of the writing or the development of the characters. When one strips away all the glitz & glamour and assesses the feature purely from a story point of view, shortcomings become apparent.

FYI, I appreciated the original 'Lucifer' for its intent to weave a compelling political thriller, and I was captivated by the character of 'Stephan', I was eager to delve deeper into his story in this continuation.

Even when the trailers for the sequel promised an entirely new experience, I held onto my hopes for something deserving of my wait & anticipation, but unfortunately, none of those were fulfilled, it did not meet my expectations.

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 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.

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.