Jithindurden Reviews

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Solid continuation of the franchise

[8/10 · 13 May 2024]

A worthy addition to the modern Planet of the Apes movies even though this is the weakest of those four for me. The VFX work for the world centuries after Ceaser is great and I would've only had praises for it if the previous entries weren't so good at it. Here, even though there were many moments where it was impeccable and on the whole it is great, the sheer scale of it seems to have affected perfection throughout the movie as much as it was in the previous entries. The story, themes etc are nothing really new. It's all explored or expected from this franchise. Even the characters don't have the depth the Reeves films had. But despite all that, it's the solid old-school yet modern treatment of the script and direction that makes the movie work so well. There's a familiarity to the drama, its progression, and even the music made it an easy and engrossing watch for me. The references to the original 1968 movie and its sequels were interesting too. I wonder how much of it would be retained in the future. I guess even if they disregard the sequels of the original, they would make it reach the original 1968 movie ending in the future films.

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)

Not as bad as I thought from the ratings

[5/10 · 9 May 2024]

I haven't seen The Poseidon Adventures, and because of that, I feel like I enjoyed this to an extent since a lot of people seem to say this is more like a bad remake rather than a sequel. Sad that the first film I saw a young Michael Caine and Sally Fields turned out to be this. There's so much stupid writing in this and the production design also feels cheap compared to other Hollywood movies I've seen from that era. Characters and character arcs are so badly written, some don't make any sense and some are just the most annoying stuff. It still manages to have a good pace and intrigue to it even though nothing works out fully the way it should. It somewhat managed to have enough light moments that helped keep the pace without repetitiveness even when it failed at other things through that. Overall felt like an average disaster movie of that time but it definitely feel like the prequel must have been a superior movie.

The Fall Guy (2024)

Old school action comedy homage to stuntwork

[7/10 · 6 May 2024]

An old-school action comedy that is focused on being a fun homage to the stuntpeople of Hollywood. It has mostly done what it set out to do. Always love it when movies reference other movies and this had a ton of it but some of it felt weird because in terms of fitting into the movie it felt forced but at the same time, that's how I'd reference a movie with friends in real life. But there was a lot of it that worked really well too. Mixing up Notting Hill and Pretty Woman feels like something I've already seen somewhere before but it was still fun. The whole movie was mostly like that where the whole thing is cliche af but it's still fun to watch even though it's nothing to boast about. It does have some incredible stunt work and in old-school fashion the end credits with the BTS were fun. The movie could've been some 20 minutes less and would've worked way better, nonetheless, on the whole a very entertaining movie.

The theatre was filled with what seemed like college kids and they were not getting a lot of the references to which I was laughing, and I wanted to explain the references, now how can I say the movie forced the references when I'm like this 😌

The Rookie (1990)

Worst from Eastwood

[3/10 · 26 April 2024]

Easily the worst Clint Eastwood movie I've seen, as a director or actor. It's a buddy cop movie, that's where the plot starts and ends. It tries to use a whole lot of cliches in the most boring way possible. Charlie Sheen looks bored most of the time. Can't really distinguish between what's intentinoal and unintentional comedy. German villains in the story but casting Hispanic actors made a lot of stuff confusing for me until it was made clear by the third act. The Mexican stereotypes in the beginning only felt worse when I realized, the Hispanic actors using the slurs towards them are supposed to be German in the film. There were a few okay action scenes and car chases but then the movie indulges in them too much and made it repetetive. The whole thing felt like a few episodes from a TV series of that time in the middle of a season where the show loses its audience. And the sex scene just felt like Eastwood's desire to get dominated by Sonia Braga. It was very weird and just out of place with that scene where she rapes him. It couldn't be anything other than his thinly veiled kink. The possibility of that scene must be why he made this movie, I really can't see any other reason for the existence of this movie.

Immaculate (2024)

Lesser version of The FIrst Omen

[7/10 · 17 April 2024]

After watching The First Omen, can't help but compare. The First Omen is definitely the better one of the two. There are so many similarities among both. The main problem with this film is it tries to cram everything under 90 minutes, whereas The First Omen had time to properly build everything in its two-hour runtime. Because of this issue, a few scenes and dialogues felt rushed and weird in the way it was shown. There could've been a lot more depth to a lot of aspects here if they had taken their time. But despite all that, this was still really good at what it was. The whole atmosphere and the cinematography were great. The need for control, bodily autonomy etc are very clearly explored. But the very ending that literally hits the politics on the face is what I loved about this movie. That part was what was a bit let down in The First Omen because it was part of a franchise. I felt like Sydney Sweeney was great and looked the part without really bringing her off-screen image. But the film had a lot of room for improvement too.

Aavesham (2024)

A full-on entertainer with a wildly fantastic Fahadh Fasil having so much fun

[8/10 · 13 April 2024]

A full-on entertainer with a wildly fantastic Fahadh Fasil having so much fun. He is so good in this that the other main 4 actors who have done a brilliant job might go underappreciated. If it was any other film, they would have gotten a lot of praise but Fahadh is just ruling the screen here. I even forgot about Sushin's score after a point, which has as much importance as a character here. The comedy and the action worked great but it even brought an emotional element that worked very well for me. Towards the end, when the theatre was filled with laughs, I was having a hard time choosing to laugh or cry as it was emotional and funny at the same time. And that emotional part that is working in this movie with such a character, is something only an actor with the calibre of Fahadh can pull off. It was such a blast when the Illuminati song started playing at the end.

The First Omen (2024)

A thematically and cinematically superior prequel

[8/10 · 10 April 2024]

It does follow the basic outline formula of the original and there's not much surprise plotwise. Even the supposed twist was very obvious from the very beginning. But even the original Omen worked more with how the mystery unravels to the characters than to the audience. The clear politics of this movie is where this truly surpasses the original. The true cult-like behaviours stemming from the belief that it is right, thinking control is very much needed by everyone at every level, which as an American film also clearly parallels the control of bodily autonomy being put into force currently. The idea that the ones who are working for the evil are different and "the others" are abandoned shows how it's the same people who believe in both sides and those outside don't even have a side in this.

The film also retcons some stuff and ties it up to the original which may not work for everyone but by the end, I was convinced with it. The ending setting up the franchise was more like a non-horror-type franchise building but I guess it works because this and the original is more psychological mystery than horror. Although this did have a lot of gore, some of it clearly homage to the original and some on the face gore clearly sending a political message for those who can catch it.

Nell Tiger Free has a great future. This and Too Old To Die Young are proof of that and I hope Hollywood utilizes it.

The Omen (1976)

Silly but engaging

[7/10 · 9 April 2024]

I'm not sure if I've seen this or the remake but I had seen it as a kid and had a gist of it, plus a lot of pop culture references meant, I know what most of it's gonna be. Even with that, this film was pretty engaging and the mystery element worked really well. There were some aspects of it that made it feel like this clearly has some inspirations from The Exorcist but this one's better for me. A lot of it felt pretty silly and I'd agree with the critics of the time of its release more than the people about how great or not great this is. It's a fun movie to watch. But the way it approached a lot of things in this movie makes it clear that the impact of this movie has been culturally negative, bringing out possibilities of cult-like mentalities. But that's kind of true for a lot of movies from the 70s and 80s which is not entirely their fault. At the end of the day, it's an entertaining movie. But in itself as a movie, this doesn't really have too many things standing the test of the time compared to what it created through its impact.

Crew (2024)

Formulaic but fun

[6/10 · 7 April 2024]

A formulaic but fun heist film. The three roles of the air hostesses from different backgrounds were tailor-made for these three stunning actresses and all of them showed why they are the stars that they are. The film had a lot of ridiculousness but the two-hour running time made sure everything went swiftly so we didn't stay on anything for too long. For all the "Vijay Vallya" character and parallels to the real events and the way the film tries to make it look like they are making these people pay, they also made sure to show that at the end of the day, even this film is just a corporate product to appease the people so nothing like this happens in reality by filling every single scene with product placements. If they were gonna use this much product placement, they could have at least not made it look like they are trying to take a stand against someone and such actions. These people would attend the parties hosted by those people abroad and joke about how this movie fooled people. But all that is not really about the movie which was always supposed to be just a fun caper and nothing more. But it could have certainly been better than this.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Dumb Fun. Better than the previous one

[6/10 · 29 March 2024]

The Monsterverse films got progressively less serious in all aspects with each movie until Godzilla vs Kong in 2021 which became so completely ridiculous and fun that it was impossible to believe it was in the same universe as the 2014 Godzilla. It was mainly due to that I didn't like it much the first time but learned to appreciate it more on a rewatch for what it was rather than expecting a consistent tone from this particular cinematic franchise. Even though this one continues to be dumb fun it felt like a step up from the previous one. The central character here is essentially Kong and everyone else is a supporting character. Being the most emotionally available, that throughline itself was more than what the previous one offered. But here, the film is self-aware enough to call itself out but doesn't try to ram it too much.

Brian Tyree Henry was annoying af in the previous movie and would've changed nothing if he and the characters with him were removed from that movie. Here, he manages to be charming enough to fit into that comic relief role. The introduction to Dan Stevens's character made me feel like it would be another annoying character but he turned out to be one of the best things of this movie for me. A lovable hippy with great comic chemistry with Brian Tyree Henry.

The action and visuals were plenty and good for such a fun dumb movie. The writing is just there to justify the action and really nothing more. No point trying to find depth or logic in it. The inconsistencies in the franchise are growing but at this point, I don't think anyone really cares.

Every time Mothra has an appearance they subtly use the music from the original song of 1961 into the soundtrack without it playing out in the open. Give us the modern Mosra song already, please.

The Goat Life (2024)

A neat adaptation of the novel

[7/10 · 28 March 2024]

All things considered a neat adaptation of Aadujeevitham. I read the novel around 15 years ago and loved it. I don't remember everything from it but there were some standout moments from the novel that I missed here. Maybe those were the more fictional aspects of the novel and this could be closer to Najeeb's real life, I don't know. But it really felt like that in the first half there was so much focus on certain aspects that could've been shortened with more impact even if they didn't include the parts from the book that I wanted to see since it's already three hours. The initial portions of Prithviraj as the newly arrived immigrant were also not as convincing as I would've liked. But the film fully commits in every department in the second half and makes such a beautiful experience. Prithviraj's transformation and his suffering are portrayed as a person who is very normal and innocent in contrast to the similar character in Mariyan (which took a lot of inspiration from this novel) who was essentially portrayed as a hero. Periyone song was incredible but it was too short and didn't fully give the impact it could've. In fact, a lot of scenes suffer from this because of poor editing. Other than Periyone, most of the music is either too much or just not matching what is going on. Honestly disappointed with the music. Even the ending of the movie felt a little abrupt, especially considering how the flashbacks were set up but it ended without the full payoff.

Even with all the problems I had Aadujeevitham is a solid movie and a neat adaptation of the novel with incredible performances, especially from Prithviraj. As someone who had read the novel, there were a lot of things that were easier to understand and also other things that I was disappointed with. It felt like it would be an entirely different experience for those who haven't read the novel.

Anchakkallakokkan (2024)

Great use of Style over substance where the writing could have been better

[7/10 · 25 March 2024]

Anchakkallakokkan is one of those rare style-over-substance films where the style is very much blended with the rustic rawness of 80s Kerala that is not often seen. The most stylish characters here are the Gillappis who are presented with so much style and at the same time very rustic that if you think about how such characters with these specific qualities shown in the film would have been portrayed in the past, it would be either for comic relief or as pure villains unlike here which itself makes this worth a lot for me. The action set pieces are intricately designed to feel the rawness of it while being stylish. The shaappu fight in the middle was amazing, the only thing I would've wanted there was a little bit more blood because a lot of those would be way more damaging if it was real. I also loved the final showdown even if it felt like dragged just a little bit more than needed. Lukman's character is used for an introduction to the area and then we are moving through a lot of different stories contained in this village. Splicing his backstory a little bit more throughout would have worked a bit more for the viewers to invest in him more as a protagonist at the end because the gap between the focus given to him seems to have worked against having someone to really root for. Overall, there are a few issues with the writing which if they'd have done better, this movie could have been really great. Personally, Lukman's character was very relatable in a lot of ways and loved the ending so much and that end credit song slaps.

Even though it is understandable why they chose the title of the movie, it being a hard-to-pronounce word unless you have heard it before has been a major setback for the film as many have said it's too weird of a title to even try watching the film.

This movie could have been really great with better writing but even now it's a very well-made film that would benefit from a theater watch.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023– )

Had a lot more potential

[7/10 · 18 March 2024]

Even though I really liked the show, the good parts of the show was really good and deserved to be part of a much better show. Kurt and Wyatt Russel playing past and future versions of a character was really charming. But it was Mari Yamamoto who stole the show every time she appeared on screen, so much so that her appearance was what I was looking forward more like the occasional appearance of the monsters. But for all those good parts and the monster mayhem, there's so much things that are handled very badly. The human drama might not have been that bad when it was conceived but a lot of the situations were very forced and a lot of the dialogues were utter trash. The first three episodes were consistently of great quality and it was after that the quality dropped suddenly. Even though in totality, I thought it was good, it's a show that had great potential that ruined itself.

Friday Night Sext Scandal (2024 TV Movie)

Important

[6/10 · 17 March 2024]

Even though the high school culture in this movie is not something I'm familiar with as someone not from the West, I've seen how it works through various movies. But the other side of it, the scandal aspect is something I've heard has happened even here. And you always get so surprised and disgusted with how it happens and not only that but how this many people can be involved with such acts. I thought this movie made a somewhat good depiction of how even the most unassuming people can turn into that. Although, if I wasn't familiar with American teenage movies and how the relationships work in such movies, I wouldn't have been able to think there was any truth in how things turned out in this. So, this felt real only because of my exposure to other movies, which could be totally wrong. The movie was still trying to make the main character more sympathetic than necessary by including a lot of things that are just in bad faith. The acting was really good overall and there were some things that worked very well but it also had a limited focus on what to tell which didn't really make it really good.

Another thing that this movie really made me think of is how especially these kinds of stories are undermined by having older actors. This movie could have had no explicit scenes at all and made the actors actually look like teenagers and the impact would've been huge. The horror and disgust would really bring out the point even if nothing explicit is shown. The fact that it shows a bit with the actors who are obviously older really negates a lot of impact and also makes the crime look lesser. The audience should understand that these are kids and not grown people which is a fact all the movies constantly try to erase. I really didn't think about it before that much but this movie kind of made me understand why that is important.

Crime of the Century (1996 TV Movie)

Makes a great case of what might have happened

[7/10 · 9 March 2024]

I have heard some references to the Lindbergh baby in some TV shows even though I don't remember exactly where. Here, the film mostly centres around how the police and the attorneys pin it on an innocent man. The debate on whether he was actually innocent or not is still going on but even if the movie is largely fictional, the fact that the police left so many loopholes and manufactured evidence and witnesses is pretty evident. The movie makes a great case of how a foolish immigrant man gets caught up in this because of his foolishness and the police exploit it and pin everything on him. This being a TV movie, Isabella Rossellini playing the wife is a surprise. But most of the cast were pretty brilliant. The sad thing is the various techniques used by the police to coerce so many people into different situations are still a very real thing that we can't escape. The belief of some people being the primary reason others suffer is always an evil that humanity can't seem to stop, whatever kind of belief it is. The confidence of people who are wrong is always what the world relies on to maintain the status quo.

The film could have been way better if it tried to be but as a TV movie, it felt it was limiting itself too much. Still, by the end, when the text appeared about what happened afterwards I really started to get emotional.

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

Way better than I remember

[8/10 · 5 March 2024]

I remember not really loving this the first time. The white peacock being the villain, a lot of red throughout the movie etc made me not so happy because I wanted a bit more of the first one. Now on a rewatch, I still have some problems with the colors and the animation. It is more detailed and advanced than the first I guess but it doesn't have the same charm as the first. But that's more of a personal preference maybe because of a bit of nostalgia too even when it originally came out. Three years was a huge time being a teenager, I guess. Now in a rewatch, I see that the story tries to have some depth and can maybe considered even better than the first. It has the action, comedy and great dialogue as should be expected from a sequel to the first part. Overall, it's as good if not better than the first.

Dune: Part Two (2024)

How evil prevails in fundementalism

[8/10 · 2 March 2024]

The first thought I had was that it was a bit underwhelming after seeing unanimous praise everywhere about this being way better than the first part and called as one of the best modern sci-fi. I mean, I do think this is a pretty great movie but only as good as the first part. While it does some things in the narrative more focused, that's mostly because those were just getting set up in the first part. The pacing is pretty off here and the way most of the action scenes are not really given more importance than simple narrative formula, it still felt unfinished at the end. It didn't really use the villains much either as it was all set-ups that felt anti-climatic. But even with all those problems, it was still effective in showcasing the evil that can rise from fundamentalism. The way Javier Bardem's lines were funny throughout the movie is also a reminder of how evil can spread through righteousness and earnestness when you are forced to be blinded by indoctrination that uses their rightful hatred. I really do hope the next part Messiah is still made, since this still feels very unfinished.

Manjummel Boys (2024)

Technically brilliant and emotionally fulfilling

[8/10 · 2 March 2024]

From Janeman itself Chidambaram's grasp in direction was evident but here he proves it again. The tone shift from an easy-going feel to a gripping emotional ride is so natural and effective. I never thought I would be this invested in it since I already knew almost what to expect from it. The script itself might have been pretty simple and on the point, not minimizing the craft there, but the direction is what really makes this stand out. Every single choice of what shot is used, the music used and what is to be shown at what time all made it so much more effective than what I would have expected from such a story. All the actors did great even though there's not too much space for any one person to shine more with such a big cast. But from the initial moments, the one I really noticed was Lal Jr, who was perfect as that loud obnoxious ahole in the friend group that most people hate. Soubin, Bhasi, Deepak and even Khalid Rahman did great in their roles.

Watching this right after watching Gunaa felt like the right choice right from the opening credits. But I wanted to make sure, I see that song in Gunaa first and not this. It was the right choice because this would've been the definitive point of that song if I had seen this first. Beautiful use and homage to Gunaa even though both are very different films.

The rescue scenes, the emotional weight they carried and the following events that allow the viewers to fully let their emotions out all worked brilliantly, For now, my favourite movie of the year. Ironic since among the theatre watches this year, this was one that I was least interested in.

Guna (1991)

Psychological masala done right

[8/10 · 2 March 2024]

From the one shot with which the movie begins, the one thing that kinda haunted me throughout the movie was how this really needs a restoration instead of this old capture for the VHS that doesn't do any justice to the technical mastery of this movie. The cinematography is outstanding with the use of so many long oners and other clever usage of shots which accentuates the themes as well as Kamal Haasan's brilliant performance.

The film also seems to be highly influential in Indian cinema as I can see the influence in films of various languages. Although, there are aspects I'm not too fond of it too.

Way too many people seemed to have interpretations that are closer to the trend of films this started where psychotic love was glorified. Here, they have tried to show how even the girl is broken inside, a bit like Alia in Highway but not that explicit. Gunaa's love is pure but that isn't pure love as many like to interpret it. The divine metaphors or Gunaa's delusions are there because of how the world treats people but at the same time, the film is also clear about not giving those delusions legitimacy. The existence of these thoughts itself is clearly shown as deliberate poisoning of his simpler mind. The film has some confusion here to confirm his victimhood or divinity because it wants to be both. But even with that, it was a pretty incredible film that tried to do a lot of things within its framework.

The Silent Twins (2022)

Half baked attempt at an interesting true story

[5/10 · 27 February 2024]

A very weird biopic about the twin sisters who remained silent to the outside world while creating their own imaginary worlds in writing. Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance give brilliant performances capturing their unique mannerisms as well as the inward and outward bursts of emotions. But while the story itself is interesting, the choice of an almost surreal narrative with interludes of stop motion animations of the stories by the sisters gives a fitting vibe of the sisters to the whole movie it still feels incomplete. The beginning itself is very sudden in terms of having no context of what's happening and yet not really putting the audience in the middle of the events. It felt more like they had all the ideas right but the execution didn't reach where it should have. This should have been a much longer movie but it doesn't seem there's anything cut down because the film just doesn't feel like it has much more to say even though the story feels incomplete at every point. If they wanted to reflect the way the sisters actually communicated with the world by not giving all the information, this should have been much more surreal than this. Otherwise, it should have been a more straighter biopic where there's a little bit more space for the other characters. Here it just feels like the makers didn't really know what to do with the material and made a half baked attempt at it.

Anweshippin Kandethum (2024)

Well made but routine

[6/10 · 25 February 2024]

A nice investigation film where they decided to not follow a lot of narrative cliches and tropes seen in this type of Malayalam film but follow that of the English episodic investigation series' like CSI. But they also made sure that it is very rooted and realistic with the 90s production design on point without making the audience pay too much attention to that. Technically this is very well made in all the departments. The choice of making it two cases for the two halves was a brave one but it seemed to have also worked. But the way so many recent films have been using this same kind of theme for crime is getting irritating for me. That's where the Ozler movie kind of subverted expectations at a certain point and made me glad even if it didn't really do anything great. Here, a lot of choices about character motivations, their hurdles and the image they were creating for them was very much like how something like CSI would do but without actually copying anything from there. That in itself had its positives and negatives but that was also kind of irritating for me at certain points. But among recent police movies where a team of them investigates this was pretty good and better than something like Kannur Squad.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba - To the Hashira Training (2024)

Not really a movie but still nice

[6/10 · 25 February 2024]

The "movie" began with kind of a recap from the beginning and then showed the title of the movie, unlike the previous movie which basically started with the opening song of that episode. So even though then it proceeded with the last episode of the last season, it fooled me into thinking this time they have made a minimum effort to edit it as a movie properly. But no, taking almost an hour to finish up showing everything we've already seen, it started with the title and credits for the next season. Why can't they put in even that much effort?

The visuals and the story and characters that I'm already invested in made it a nice watch but it clearly not targeted to be played in theaters did affect my experience. At least the previous movie had a lot of great visual set pieces to present. Here it's more or less an emotional season finale and a lot of setting up for the next season for which there's not much to gain as a movie. It is so not meant to be a movie. But I can't help really like it because of how much I'm invested in it. The emotions do work big time even if they push it to your face a bit too much. Watching it with a houseful crowd is certainly a good experience even if it can't be really called a movie.

Deep Cover (1992)

A 90s noir that had more potential

[7/10 · 23 February 2024]

A 90s noir that touches upon everything wrong with America but kind of feels like didn't really commit to fully explore that. From what I've read it's commendable that such a film on this scale with a black protagonist being an undercover cop was made at that time. Maybe that is the reason a lot of it felt like it wanted to be even darker but compromises on being happy with the boundaries it stays in. It almost feels like the script was heavily censored so that they don't want it to look like they aren't afraid of/to criticize a lot of stuff but making sure not to go overboard as to actually explore the root causes. The way the drugs are kept in circulation using the people who want to stop it the most, all the while the real players always in control on both sides is clearly drawn out here but just doesn't spell it out. Similarly, there are so many things that are explored here that are not completely utilized in the narrative. Both Fishburne and Goldblum were fantastic and quite different from what I've seen them in before. The music and cinematography were great even though I had to watch it on a bad screen. Even though I really loved a lot of aspects of it, there's a lot of it that just makes me think this could've been so much better and a lot more hard-hitting if they would have chosen to.

Madame Web (2024)

Bad and stupid but a little bit charming

[4/10 · 18 February 2024]

The film is set in 2003 and it is shot like it is a TV pilot from that time too. Everything in it is so half-baked that it is really unbelievable that this is such a huge studio film. At the same time, for this exact reason, and maybe because even bad superhero movies are still comfort films for me, there was some charm to it. The simplicity with which a lot of it is approached, and the lack of real stakes really made this a very comfortable watch. It is still a bad film but I really didn't think it was one of the worst superhero movies. The last superhero movie I saw at the theater, Aquaman 2 was definitely worse than this in my opinion.

And I think the casting was done a long time ago because watching Syndey Sweeny as a meek-mannered teenager supporting character feels very weird when she's basically established as the new hot star in Hollywood.

Bramayugam (2024)

Mammootty is devilish in this

[8/10 · 15 February 2024]

Attempting a big-budget black-and-white horror movie in Malayalam itself is laudable. But using it to unleash the devilish side of Mammootty is where this movie really shines. As expected, Mammootty hit it out of the park. In films like this and Rorschach, we can see that the devilish side is used in a way that is so powerful but also charismatic in a way only he can do. We are in awe and horror of the deeds but also can't help but love it. And the director knows this, so the framing and music also evoke the same. Here, the story itself is pretty simple and uses an exposition sequence to fill in all the blanks. So, it's the atmosphere created and the performances that really carries the movie. Thematically there are a lot of obvious aspects to it but it felt like the focus on certain things could have made more impact instead of spelling everything out. Besides Mammootty, Sidharth Bharathan surprised me with his performance. The production design and some detailing in makeup were all fabulously intricate. Editing on the whole felt not as good as all the other technical aspects, as there were many moments where it felt like it disrupted the flow rather than immersing us. The black and white cinematography worked well but I wish they played with it more. Rather than just the usual black and white, the use of some darker black and whiter white etc would've been great, but that's just my opinion. Overall, it's an incredible attempt at folklore horror rooted in Kerala mythology, even though I do think there was some room for improvement.

The fans association people were celebrating with a bandset and everything at the end, so the repetition of a dialogue at the end of the credits wasn't completely audible but that was a really nice way to end the movie.