Villain

" Villain" has succeeded to fulfill the expectations of the people. In the beginning, one wonders, why the police officer has availed long leave only to join duties, which turned out to be the last day of his career. Later on one realize, because of being in police force, he lost his wife and daughter, there by losing the precious family life. He himself was witness to the horrible sufferings of his wife, the heart- rending hospital scenes of which will haunt the viewers for long.

Villain belongs to Mohanlal, his role as the police officer stands tall because of his brilliance.His look in the movie with white beard,his attire and the body language,clearly is a reflection of his mental sufferings.This is being reflected on his face each time he appears on the screen. He is a terrible loser but he does not allow those things come in the way of the task he has undertaken.Manju Warrier shines in her role, as Neelima, even though she has a cameo role to play.She has brilliantly played her role with ease,which was worth watching. Vinod Jose as Iqbal has been a success, his success story,undoubtedly was his natural acting.

The strong relationship & bonding,involving husband-wife and their daughter has been beautifully crafted in this movie. It was heart- breaking to watch the relationship being broken due to unfortunate circumstances.

The events that unfolds after the murder,with the hapless police failing to make the breakthrough and approaching the retired police officer for his assistance to solve the mystery murder and Mathew Manjuran the impeccable ex-police officer agreeing to the proposal,came much to the liking of the viewers. The climax scene unravels some bitter truths,much to the surprise of the viewers.

Villain has been decorated with powerful dialogues, not often been heard in other movies. There has been many dialogues in English,which has been incorporated at the right place, well suiting to the situation. But the back ground score, on a few occasions,piercing our ears,leaving dialogues inaudible.

The film also brings to the fore the message that villains are not born, but being made, and there hides a hero in every villain and vice verse.

It is a crime thriller worth to watch. But one can not leave aside the emotional aspect of the movie which goes deep in to hearts of viewers for which Director B.Unnikrishnan deserves accolades.

One has to go and watch this movie. Villain has the stuff which viewers never dislike.

A Tragic Backstory. Check. A Step By Step Crime Investigation. Check. ASnitch Within the team. Check. A final clash with the villain. Check.

Villain was a complete mess from the beginning. To be honest, i lost track of what was happening in between. Too much use of neo-noir transitions, particularly unnerving lighting effects and almost no use of the superb cinematography surrounding this dull film. Villain is a throwback to the 90's crime investigative thrillers wave in the Mollywood industry, then again it fails in that. Villain's execution and style may differ from the mainstream but the ignorant use of special effects and transitions spoil the fun. It is a theme that has already been feasted upon by the Mollywood industry and we sure don't want to burst ourselves.

Villain had a strong base to build, it was engrossing, thrilling but lacked the essential substance to go forward. The story-line wasn't a line at all, it was a messed up mix of emotions, unneeded close ups and a whole lot chunk of unnecessary dialogues. Although the criticism on dialogues isn't fair ; it might be the only plus point that i may be able to point out. Villain's lack of substance left us with doubt whether to sympathize with the characters or not ; leaving us almost no individual performances that we really cared for.

The acting line up was sensational. Vishal had a conclusive performance while the same could not be said to Hansika. With bad dubbing process ( which is kind of a improvement ) and unnecessary English dialogues to fill that space, the sound editing team really needed to run this again.

Mohanlal's performance was yet again, exceptional. It is one of the few cases where the character that a certain actor gets corresponds with their age and the casting was beautifully done. Siddiqe, Aju Varghese, Chemban Vinod all delivered a sub par performance while the only odd man standing out would be and is only Mohanlal. To be honest without the stardom and On screen presence of Mohanlal, Villain would sure have been a bloating mess.

The cinematography might be the only one thing that i really cared for in the film. It was the only plus point that stayed true to the screen at all times. Kudos to Manoj Paramahamsa for that.

Overall, with a few out of the box scenes, Villain is an OK watch but then again so is all the recent releases.

+ Watch out for the ' philosophical ' punch lines. + Cinematography + Lead Acting

• Weak Story - Terrible on screen execution of certain characters. - A pale and shallow theme. - Poor editing and visual effects considering the budget. - The dialogue - "Nothing is white or black, everything is grey"

(WAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN ??)

My Rating - 5.7 / 10.0

For a movie that has created so much hype right from its initial making stages, Villain is a botched effort of a psychological thriller. No novelty in presentation , no mystery around the killer and an overall lack of substance - amidst all the reasons to skip this flick, it is the towering presence of Mohanlal and his timeless acting prowess that makes the movie a onetime watch. 'Acting his Age' is a beaten to death critique of our two superstars, but this film character (not black or white, but grey, as the movie itself speaks!) corresponds to the lead actors age and charisma wonderfully. Showing amazing restraint in his bravura act of a broken down cop, Lal emotes so well in the hospital scenes and in his overall non-heroic cop avatar. Some scenes in the hospital bed have shades of Lal's Sathyanathan character from Sadayam movie (1992), the whole lot of mental trauma bringing out the dare to commit the unthinkable. The absence of mass element and the way he has underplayed the character (something for which I rate him better than Kamal Hassan) is sure a promise of many more realistic acts expected from this gifted man, a-la his best performances during the 90's.

I wanted to see this movie from the moment i heard the cast involved and then i saw the creative talent involved and i got more hyped for it. When i left the theatre, i was greatly dissapointed . Villain is a mess.The tones are really conflicting . It quickly changes from a crime thriller to a sad story about an unfortunate couple and then goes back to the crime thriller part . The acting though is amazing by all the actors. This movie feels like it has two great movie combined into one big mess . Anyway overall no recommendation for it.

Summary (no spoilers)

This movie is based on a killer who teases the entire police department with his flawless crimes and gets chased by a retired cop whose past influences the killers future with the cat and mouse game getting out of hand.

My Review (no spoilers)

There was nothing wrong in the directing or acting in this movie but it was the writing. I felt the script was incomplete. They just rushed thru to finish the movie with the most lame ending ever. One outstanding acting was of Manju Warrier where her role was done to perfection no wonder she is called the lady superstar of Malayalam movie industry. Mohanlal was the other one with his perfect acting, explosive action and mind blowing dialogues kept the viewers pinned to the screen. I felt Vishal, Hansika and Raashi were all underutilized for their respective roles in this movie. I liked one song from this movie named "Kandittum Kandittum" it would be in my head for a while. I think Mohanlal and Vishal needed a good BGM for their roles too. Overall had a promising start but went downhill later on.

My Recommendation

Yes, I would say to watch out for Mohanlal and Manju Warriers acting combo.

My Rating

6/10