The Buckingham Murders

It's set against a backdrop of cricket-related antipathy between South Asian Muslim and Sikh immigrant communities in Buckinghamshire. A young man named D'Ipsheet goes missing. Apparently he was a helluva cricket player because his disappearance soon threatens to boil over into all-out war between Muslims, Sikhs and confused Milton Keynes Dons hooligans. Fortunately strident lady cop is on the case to untangle a web of deception, drugs, forbidden gay romance and official corruption. But can she parse the evidence objectively in the aftermath of her own son's death during a mass-casualty firearm attack by a homeless maniac?

I dunno, and who cares? The United Kingdom has outlawed (inter alia) firearms, violence, homelessness, firearms violence by homeless people, drugs, the forbidding of gay romance, religious antipathy, religion, bad attitudes, free speech and football hooliganism. Thanks to the U. K.'s bold and entirely effective legislation, we can all rest easy knowing that nothing in this movie could ever, ever actually happen. At least not in Buckighamshire. Maybe in Texas.

This is an example of a movie where the actors, the director - pretty much everyone else does a good job. But the script is so underwhelming, and dare I say, so out of place, that it just single handedly pulls the movie down.

Without going into any spoilers, the biggest problem with the script is that the script writer doesn't seem to grasp that there's something as 'too many twists'.

Towards the end of the second half of the movie, there's a major 'twist' once every 5 or 10 minutes. A lot of them just feels so forced just for a presumed shock value and completely destroys the momentum of the money.

Also, a lot of characters have extremely flimsy motivations behind their actions. Some don't even make any logical sense. And some, might make sense but the story doesn't do enough to make us really care about it.

I am a big fan of crime thrillers, arguably my favorite genre in cinema.

But this isn't it. A fast forward watch at best when it comes out on OTTs. Low average.

This is a murder mystery where Kareen Kapoor is the lead detective. The first half of the film starts OK but turns in a maze of confusion in second half. It appears the story is written just to make a complex murder mystery but doesn't make much sense. It relies on a number of unrelated co-incidences happening together just to keep it interesting. Kareena's acting is very average. It seems she is just doing what she has been told to do and that is pretty much it. Scream when you are asked to scream; slap when you are asked to slap. But she is not able to portray any emotions leading into any of those actions. Disappointing that someone who has spent around 20 years acting can't still do justice to a serious role. I would suggest to give the movie a pass. Nothing new here.

The Buckingham Murders has a strong plot and an intriguing storyline that pulls you in from the start. It weaves a suspenseful narrative that keeps you hooked until the end. The cast delivers commendable performances, and the film shows high production quality. However, it's difficult not to notice a recurring trope in Bollywood: the inclusion of religious tension, specifically between Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities. This time, the addition of these elements felt forced and detracted from an otherwise solid thriller.

It's understandable that art sometimes reflects social realities, but in The Buckingham Murders, the handling of these themes felt stereotypical and added unnecessary weight to the story. The portrayal of certain groups, particularly in a negative light, came across as a cliché, diminishing the film's uniqueness and seeming like a repetitive, almost predictable approach seen in other Indian movies. This kind of treatment might appeal to some audiences but for others, it can feel heavy-handed and repetitive.

If the film had focused solely on the mystery at its core, it could have been a remarkable addition to the thriller genre. Instead, the attempt to add layers of religious and communal strife ends up detracting from the narrative. This movie would have stood stronger without these added stereotypes, which risk overshadowing the well-executed plot and skillful acting.

This movie which was a Whodunit was an average movie with lots of twists and turns until the very end. These cat and mouse themed films can only be really enjoyed when everything is in sync viz.very good script,acting direction &editing as there is no glamour to help when another section is lacking Unfortunately this film ticked all of the boxes except the acting. Since this was a very low budget movie besides Kareena there were no other stars which was perfectly understandable &acceptable. However the acting of the junior staff was in sync with the budget,low or at best average! If they had some brilliant performances,it would have lifted the movie a great deal as it had a very good script but this did not happen!

6/10.