Directed by: Basil Joseph
Starring: Tovino Thomas, Femina George, Guru Somasundaram
Streaming on Netflix.
Not being a big fan of superhero films, I wanted to give this a shot because it's rare to see one come out of Indian cinema and especially Malayalam cinema which is known for its layered and nuanced writing and filmmaking. What I loved about this film is about how they set a film in rural Kerala and still completely transported us into the idea that two characters from here get superpowers almost like any other Marvel or DC heroes. I think it's because of the time it took to set up the milieu, the inciting incidents and everything which leads up to the incident that gets them to have superpowers. And though the film is slightly in the meta zone where it shows its awareness of existing superheroes in Hollywood films, it never gets into the parody zone - it takes its characters very seriously.
What's beautiful about Malayalam cinema is, even in a film like this or 2018, which are heavily centered around the premise of the film - they still set up the whole world in an extremely nuanced way. No lazy writing at all. Apart from this general aspect, I liked a few things about the writing of the film - I liked the backstory of the kid - I liked the Joker touch they gave to the villain which is usually not so easy to pull off - I also liked the bit where the villain pulls off a fake identity. Although what I didn't enjoy as much was that it felt predictable. They didn't address the whole - how will Minnal Murali prove to people that he did only the good things and not the bad things? They chose a convenient way out of it. The fight between the superpowers felt very Marvel-ey. But having said that, as a film, I have huge respect for the execution. Not once did the VFX feel weird, or the action sequences seem bad or not even one thing felt out of place. Everything felt very stylish and yet seamless.
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