Villain

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

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

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.

Villain is such a huge disappointment. It had so much potential even though the storyline was something we've seen before. There were some cliche breaking too. A hero who walks away from his revenge is may be something never happened before in Malayalam movies.

The poorly written screenplay is the real villain in this movie. The first half was decent. B Unnikrishnan shifted to top gear all of sudden. The writing was so impatient. How Mathew(Mohanlal) finds out about the murderer is too convenient. Then there are the songs. I don't know what's with Unnikrishnan and bad rock songs. I guess you know about "Aaranu Nee" from Grandmaster. He could've easily shown she's part of a band without using a whole song. The rest of the songs just increases the duration and serves no purpose. Kandittum Kanditum was good though.

Mohanlal's performance stands out. That was casting done well. His physique, the grey beard suits a veteran police officer who's been through a lot. Mathew Manjooran is one of the most underrated performance in Malayalam cinema. Watch Villain for that reason alone.

The good part of the film reminds of one of B Unnikrishnan and Mohanlal's previous collaboration that worked like Grandmaster and the bad parts reminds of their atrocious collaboration in Mr Fraud. The cinematographer and the actors have done their jobs really well here but the script constantly tries to be something bigger. By trying to include too many social issues and philosophy the film loses its grip on the whole. The plot gets convoluted with too many character arcs which are not smoothly dealt with. The production design has to be the worst part where you understand that the makers have learned nothing from Mr Fraud. Yet the film has its moments, the cinematography and the music creates an atmosphere that keeps the film alive and Mohanlal is always great.