Buried deep beneath the idealistic blabber on revenge and redemption is a sluggishly formulaic thriller plot that renders ‘Villain’ a banal film. Meekly proficient and mostly deflecting, it’s a prolonged rattle that isn’t exactly music to one’s ears.
‘Villain’ quite casually overlooks the one mandatory requirement that makes a thriller watch worthy – an air of anticipation that keeps the viewers busy, arranging the pieces of the puzzle on their own and laying out their very own set of conjectures. Bereft of this vital requisite, ‘Villain’ takes a prophetic thriller recipe and cooks up some moping material that totally fails to pack a punch.
Mathew Manjooran (Mohanlal) is a much revered IPS officer, who finds his life shattered when a wayward vehicle accident kills his daughter and leaves his wife Neelima (Manju Warrier) in a vegetative state. Few months later, still grappling to come to terms with reality and haunted by memories that in all likelihood would last a lifetime, Mathews decides to opt for voluntary retirement from service, but is deterred by a series of murders in the city, and a serial killer out on the loose.
‘Villain’ teems with logical inconsistencies, and even if you might be in the mood to brush them under the carpet in haste, questions are bound to abound. It’s a disarray without doubt, and an appallingly soundless one at that; so much so that it strikes you as a lethargic film that seems to have offhandedly given up even before starting to make an effort.
As it reaches the halfway mark, ‘Villain’ goes for the ultimate risk and makes it quite evident, that it neither has a bombshell waiting for you, nor shocker packs lined up its kitty. Shaktivel Palanisamy (Vishal) emerges from the shadows along with his accomplice Shreya (Hansika Motwani), and in an elaborate flashback, ‘Villain’ goes on to divulge the motive behind the man’s actions.
The underwhelming finale is probably the worst part of it, and as Shaktivel and Mathew indulge in an intellectual and highly philosophical discourse on what has actually gone wrong with the world, you resist that enticing desire to go take a short nap, while the two are relentlessly at it. Eventually, the truth-seekers do get down to settling scores, but not before Mathew has persuaded a transformation of an unimaginable scale in an onlooker, whom I choose not to disclose, lest I ruin the fun.
There are quite a few instances in ‘Villain’ when the dialogues sound overwrought, as if desperate to make a mark. A police officer casually remarks on how vital a newspaper is, while being on the potty, which spurs another remark from a senior officer that ‘news is shit’. Mathew loves his Shakespeare and placidly quotes Lady Macbeth and her celebrated lines on remorse, even as the film ironically reminds you of another line from the same play that it’s hardly anything but a whole lot of ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing.’
The sole reason to watch ‘Villain’ should be Mohanlal, and sporting a chic beard, this amazing actor loads his weary eyes with grief that ebbs over even in the most unfussy of glances that he throws your way. The one scene that ‘Villlain’ would be remembered for, is elevated to an eminent plane, not on account of its circumstances, but only because it’s Mohanlal who enacts it on screen.
Vishal plays the adversary with élan, even as the writing lets him down time and again and holds his own against one of the greatest actors of our times. Rashi Khanna dons the obligatory role of women police officers in T-shirts, even as Hansika gets to have a bit more fun, sing a song and even hold a revolver. Manju Warrier is cast in a role that merely banks on her star presence, and actors as Srikanth, Siddique, Chemban Vinod and Renji Panicker pitch in their very best.
What surprises most is perhaps the absence of brilliance that one would expect with regard to the technicalities, given the reportedly lofty budget that the film has been shot on. There is hardly anything ecstatic about the cinematography by two of the best men in business – Ekambaran and Manoj Paramahamsa – and the much touted 8K resolution comes across a bummer, probably on account of the lack of fitting projection equipment in the cinema halls. The sound track score by 4Musics is typical at best, while the film score by Sushin Shyam rambles on like an after-thought.
Buried deep beneath the idealistic blabber on revenge and redemption is a sluggishly formulaic thriller plot that renders ‘Villain’ a banal film. Meekly proficient and mostly deflecting, it’s a prolonged rattle that isn’t exactly music to one’s ears.
Verdict: Disappointing