Daveed

Daveed (2025)

Angamaly Diaries' star Antony Pepe gets wasted in a Badly written, poorly made, wrongly edited, lame Boxing drama.

Who ever made this has zero knowledge about Boxing. Sparring without a Mouth guard, smoking after training, match approval without a weight class, this movie seems to take place in an alternative parallel universe. Zero authentic portrayal in a Boxing movie.

Anything good was from the child artist and the villain. Pepe tried his best to get lean, he should have put some muscle to match the villain, great transformation, though.

Shout out to the cameraman for cleverly hiding Pepe unfit belly in the final showdown. The editing was so lame, the makers should have atleast studied the top 5 boxing movies.

Also the casting was so pathetic, makers should have cast a younger actress, it was the role his wife, not his mother.

Writing should be have better, the match result was little over the top. No one, even with a retired MMA background can stand against a top class Boxer in the first round, especially when they are from different weight classes. The logical ending would have been Pepe's death, but the movie ended in a lighter tone.

Overall, a good effort but a major missed opportunity. I'd give this movie 5/10.

Rating - 4/5

A straight strong power punch movie with an intriguing screenplay,exceptional performances and goosebump action sequences.

The plot of the story revolves around a lazy underdog family man who has to face a boxing showdown match over a personal dignity loss undergone by a boxing world champ and to rediscover his lost Identity.

The filmmakers has triumphed in giving an engaging action drama through a striking screenplay and impressive action performance on the ring. Deepu Rajeevan through his writing has effortlessly synchronised family drama, & camaraderie,emotions and the underdog culture through the impressive suburban settings of Kochi. The screenplay narrative was brilliantly executed by Govind Vishnu portraying raw emotions of a wounded lion in mind rising back through perseverance,determination,confidence and blended it through a flashback. The climax sequence was impressive highlighting the other side of success unlike other movies.

Impeccable performance by Antony Pepe in the action sequences in the ring and gave life to the emotions in right harmony. Mo Ismail has given an incredible performance and his dialogues through his voice was unmatchable reflecting the courage and strength of an unstoppable force. Impressive performances by Vijay Raghavan with his stag mannerisms and dialogue delivery,Lijomol Jose as a bold and strong housewife,Saiju Kurup,Jess Kukku ,Saiju Kurup & Aju Varghese.

Salu K Thomas has captured a well choreographed action drama movie in the right spirit and emotions hard hitting in the minds of the viewers. Rakesh Cherumadam has trimmed the movie into an action packed family entertainer and Justin Varghese has given hooking BGM's syncing to the action sequences. Special appreciation to PC Stunts Prabhu for the top notch action sequences in the movie.

Govind Vishnu has striked gold through his debut directorial venture with an upper cut execution style.

We all as a collective society have already realised that boxing is for girls only. They're the ones who need to wear soft, smooth, round and cute gloves to avoid hurting their beautiful and delicate hands while hitting a punching bag that's as tall as their boyfriends/husbands.

And yet here they show a fully grown ass man with a beard wearing the girly gloves. Has he no shame? He might as well put on a sports bra, low rise shorts and lipstick. Or a bikini, if he wishes to look so feminine.

I always knew Malayalam cinema was supposed to be good, and that in spite of being pro LGBTQ, Keralites wouldn't stoop to femboy behaviour. But apparently they have turned into Bengalis too.

Didn't satisfied me at all because of the overdose of cringe moments, probably higher and heavier than the bomb America put in Japan during world war 2. It contains lot of references from almost all boxing and sports drama movies that is half cooked. Appreciates director's effort for watching this much movies. Over use of sentiments caused the main problem here. Appreciate the effort pepe has taken for the movie, but it wasted because of the low quality of screenplay. Sentiment scenes made me cringe most of the time and it also makes the movie an unrealistic one. Most of the characters in this movie are cringe as hell. Relationship between pepe and the character who played his daughter also made me cringe, that girl is annoying as hell. Antagonist was alright till he scream like a dinosaur when a needle makes his back hurt. But overall he was fine comparing to others, nice performance. Some of the positives I have found in this movie are performances of Pepe and his combination with Lijomol. Technical side was fine, fight scenes and boxing combination was alright. Pepe's character relationship with his daughter is cringe pro max, she is totally annoying. Screenplay also contain lot of cringe moments. Vijayararghavn's portions are also unnecessary and cringe. Movie contains lots of cringe moments, one that truly worked and satisfied for me in this movie was the combination of protagonist and his wife. Lijomol did a fine role, her combination with pepe was satisfying for me. Overall it is a boxing drama movie which had a screenplay which contain lot of cringe moments, unrealistic writing and annoyable characters.

After watching RDX, the biggest letdown is the fight choreography. The three main characters leave a lot to desire when it comes to their supposed martial art skills. The fights look half baked and somehow leave you disappointed. But in the overall big picture, the remaining elements somehow make up for this.

But, in a movie like Daveed, the whole focus is the fight between the two main characters and this is where it falters. Boxing, unlike a fight in your typical movie is meant to be more scientific and the choreography is expected to follow certain benchmarks and standards to convey the characteristics of a boxing match. This was sorely missing and the fights feel more like your usual hero vs villain showdown meant more for the effect and not for the actual fight.

Now I write this review after watching Alappuzha Gymkhana and the gaps in Daveed are glaringly evident. Pepe is not a great actor and his flaws are apparent and evident. When it came to most of his earlier successful movies, he has been ably supported by a good cast which is missing here. Mo Ismail also looks caricaturish and his attempt to portray a cocky and brash fighter is over done most of the time.

All in all, this was Rocky done wrong and not really worth your time.