Villain

I wanted to see this movie from the moment i heard the cast involved and then i saw the creative talent involved and i got more hyped for it. When i left the theatre, i was greatly dissapointed . Villain is a mess.The tones are really conflicting . It quickly changes from a crime thriller to a sad story about an unfortunate couple and then goes back to the crime thriller part . The acting though is amazing by all the actors. This movie feels like it has two great movie combined into one big mess . Anyway overall no recommendation for it.

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

The intentions of Villain as a film are wise but the shoddy execution makes it look overtly pretentious. Director B. Unnikrishnan directs Mohanlal as this rugged, smart law enforcement officer who is forced to come out of his voluntary retirement to solve a case that seems ordinarily stupid. The setup is very lukewarm at first, supported by Raashi Khanna's tasteless performance. One is supposed to get hooked into such crime thrillers at the beginning itself but instead here we are cringing over Mohanlal's snobbish character. The power in the film is introduced when we enter the protagonist's past and realize how the writers have messed up the plot by trying to look smart and psychological. Villain aspires to show you the evil side of human beings but it succeeds only in showing the ugly acting of Vishal, who graces the screen like the plague. Short-lived characters played by Manju Warrier and Hansika Motwani hardly help as the plot, trying to look intellectual, goes down the hill in the second half. The aim of the film is to show that every hero has a villain and vice versa, but I'm not really convinced. Villain is easily the most disappointing films of 2017. TN.

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.

Film director B.Unni has been here for very long time and yet he hasn't delivered a film which could satiate my hunger for good films(grandmaster is exception though). Same could be say about villain. I was skeptical after watching film trailer and to horror reports published on first day were mixed mostly. The biggest let down in this crime thriller is definitely its screenplay because film has close to zero thrill element and many loose end which all was juxtaposed together and made it look engaging by just one man Mohanlal. Could be say that it is his best performance since oppam however you could see character had some similarity with grandmaster's chandrasekhar like being nonchalant and calming, however director added more mystery and philosophy element to the Mathew manjooran. Acting wise its a one man show Lal and only actor who came closer to him was Manju. Most other actors had nothing to perform especially two new ladies Hansika and Raashi. I am not quite sure about what to say about vishal. Other supporting characters were as usual good.

Songs were fine so does the bgm. Technical side were pretty good except some logic defying actions.

On negative side: Script Some glibly written characters

Positive: Mohanlal Bgm Some scenes has its moments

People who are expecting drishyam, mumbai police, memories or even grandmaster might be get disappointed because it's less of an investigating thriller and more of emotional story which will caught your attention just here and there. In the end I quote"revenge is a disease". Give it a try if you are a die hard fan of actor Mohanlal.