I was motivated to watch this 'Superhero flick' after reading a highly favorable review in a leading Indian newspaper calling this 'The best superhero movie of the year could teach Marvel how to solve its villain problem'.
The story is about a tailor who is never seen stitching throughout the film except for the one scene where he blatantly copies Tobey Maguire stitching his Spidey-suite. Yes, this film is all about following that template - of Spiderman. Of course, the villain's track follows the template of Nolan's Joker from Dark Knight (and a little bit of the villain played by Vivek Oberoi in one of the Krish movies). What makes it look different - well, it is set in a village in Kerala and the players are all caricature small-town folks. A lightning bolt strikes the two and they gain superpowers.
The writers did not even attempt to give any depth to the characters, since this is being marketed as a ground-breaking first super hero film from the Malayalam Industry. Okay, let us leave the cardboard cutouts, but what about the hero and villain, their love interests? Well, as seen in almost all mass South Indian films, the villain doesn't get the love of his life and (for a chance) neither does the hero - that is the first act of the film - in intercuts their tragic love failures are revealed, and more importantly, the filmmakers make it a point to portray women as the unfaithful sex which can leave a man at any moment for a richer guy. Yes, that is exactly how it looked.
Talk about teaching Marvel a lesson. What on earth was the villain doing in this film? What was his motivation - a love failure? Fine, what was the aimless hero's motivation? A loosely stitched (since the hero is a tailor) prologue in which the hero's father (whom the hero forgets conveniently because of a retrograde amnesia which the writers don't even care to address because the audience is taken for granted) speaks of values and doing the right thing and taking responsibilities, etc. The very words that play as voice overlap in the climax when the hero (who is now dressed like the amazing Spiderman) is down.
Shamir Thahir's visual frames are beautiful. Individually, the shots look great, but there is an overall inconsistency in the cinematography when seen in the whole. It doesn't maintain the look and feel throughout - sometimes it gives a Gotham-like feel, and then suddenly it gives a Subramaniyapuram-like feel, before going back to 'Kumbalangi Nights' mode.
The viewing experience is constantly interrupted by unnecessary songs occasionally in the first half. One of the most important ingredients of a good superhero film is amazing background score. Minnal Murali's BG score lacks punch especially towards the end (nothing beats Bahubali - The Conclusion). The other important element of a good superhero film is great special effects. Well, the vfx is decent given the limited budget, but there are places where you can tell that element in 3D could have made use of some shadows and highlights. Let's come to action - there is no punch in the punches. The fight scenes are rare, but those that are there are extended for no reason. Were they trying to build drama and create sympathy for the hero? Like that fight scene in the bus, we all know that it is going to end with the bus hanging from the cliff, but then hanging the girl from the broken windshield of the hanging bus was too much. That's what happens when you try to repurpose a train scene from Spiderman with a cheaper one in the bus.
When it comes to performance, then the baddie 'Guru Somasundaram' does a decent job along with P Balachandran as uncle Ben, I mean the superhero's guardian. Baiju and Aju Varghese's characters are under-developed. As for Tovino, no... he lacked the most important thing needed in a superhero - CHARISMA. He desperately tries to do a simpleton version of Tobey Maguire in lungi.
Minnal Murali is at best a strictly average rip-off of Spiderman with a villain has no villainy. Don't think I am being mean to the makers. I understand the labour that goes into making any film, but this is lazy writing and filmmaking. Yes, it will impress someone who has never seen a superhero film. But the regular superhero filmgoer has everything before - the nerdy hero, the father-figure, the father's heroics, the villain's magnetic abilities (even the villain played by Vivek Oberoi ripped it in Krish few years back), the hero's ability to save utensils from hitting the floor (it was a canteen in Spiderman, here it is a cooperative hospital), the stitching of a costume that looks exactly like a Marvel costume (including the colour scheme), the bus attack (like the train attack in Spiderman) you have all that here. The list goes on.
The worst part is the duration of this cliched superhero movie set in a small countryside - 2 freaking hours and 37 minutes, and for what - half baked characters and a villain who doesn't scare the hell out of the viewer?
SAD part is how the so-called critics are praising this baselessly, sending the non-Malayalee audience into a nightmare that lacks authenticity. Let's call a spade a spade - Minnal Murali is a below average film that has nothing original to offer. Whoever reviewed this movie for that newspaper needs to be honest with the audience. The producers could have trimmed its length, might have been better.
Avoid if you have watched Spiderman. Avoid it if you like Tovino Thomas. AVOID IF YOU READ SOMEWHERE THAT THIS IS THE BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE MADE IN INDIA.
Minnal Murali is the Malayalam version of what was Krish to Hindi. I sign off.
The story is about a tailor who is never seen stitching throughout the film except for the one scene where he blatantly copies Tobey Maguire stitching his Spidey-suite. Yes, this film is all about following that template - of Spiderman. Of course, the villain's track follows the template of Nolan's Joker from Dark Knight (and a little bit of the villain played by Vivek Oberoi in one of the Krish movies). What makes it look different - well, it is set in a village in Kerala and the players are all caricature small-town folks. A lightning bolt strikes the two and they gain superpowers.
The writers did not even attempt to give any depth to the characters, since this is being marketed as a ground-breaking first super hero film from the Malayalam Industry. Okay, let us leave the cardboard cutouts, but what about the hero and villain, their love interests? Well, as seen in almost all mass South Indian films, the villain doesn't get the love of his life and (for a chance) neither does the hero - that is the first act of the film - in intercuts their tragic love failures are revealed, and more importantly, the filmmakers make it a point to portray women as the unfaithful sex which can leave a man at any moment for a richer guy. Yes, that is exactly how it looked.
Talk about teaching Marvel a lesson. What on earth was the villain doing in this film? What was his motivation - a love failure? Fine, what was the aimless hero's motivation? A loosely stitched (since the hero is a tailor) prologue in which the hero's father (whom the hero forgets conveniently because of a retrograde amnesia which the writers don't even care to address because the audience is taken for granted) speaks of values and doing the right thing and taking responsibilities, etc. The very words that play as voice overlap in the climax when the hero (who is now dressed like the amazing Spiderman) is down.
Shamir Thahir's visual frames are beautiful. Individually, the shots look great, but there is an overall inconsistency in the cinematography when seen in the whole. It doesn't maintain the look and feel throughout - sometimes it gives a Gotham-like feel, and then suddenly it gives a Subramaniyapuram-like feel, before going back to 'Kumbalangi Nights' mode.
The viewing experience is constantly interrupted by unnecessary songs occasionally in the first half. One of the most important ingredients of a good superhero film is amazing background score. Minnal Murali's BG score lacks punch especially towards the end (nothing beats Bahubali - The Conclusion). The other important element of a good superhero film is great special effects. Well, the vfx is decent given the limited budget, but there are places where you can tell that element in 3D could have made use of some shadows and highlights. Let's come to action - there is no punch in the punches. The fight scenes are rare, but those that are there are extended for no reason. Were they trying to build drama and create sympathy for the hero? Like that fight scene in the bus, we all know that it is going to end with the bus hanging from the cliff, but then hanging the girl from the broken windshield of the hanging bus was too much. That's what happens when you try to repurpose a train scene from Spiderman with a cheaper one in the bus.
When it comes to performance, then the baddie 'Guru Somasundaram' does a decent job along with P Balachandran as uncle Ben, I mean the superhero's guardian. Baiju and Aju Varghese's characters are under-developed. As for Tovino, no... he lacked the most important thing needed in a superhero - CHARISMA. He desperately tries to do a simpleton version of Tobey Maguire in lungi.
Minnal Murali is at best a strictly average rip-off of Spiderman with a villain has no villainy. Don't think I am being mean to the makers. I understand the labour that goes into making any film, but this is lazy writing and filmmaking. Yes, it will impress someone who has never seen a superhero film. But the regular superhero filmgoer has everything before - the nerdy hero, the father-figure, the father's heroics, the villain's magnetic abilities (even the villain played by Vivek Oberoi ripped it in Krish few years back), the hero's ability to save utensils from hitting the floor (it was a canteen in Spiderman, here it is a cooperative hospital), the stitching of a costume that looks exactly like a Marvel costume (including the colour scheme), the bus attack (like the train attack in Spiderman) you have all that here. The list goes on.
The worst part is the duration of this cliched superhero movie set in a small countryside - 2 freaking hours and 37 minutes, and for what - half baked characters and a villain who doesn't scare the hell out of the viewer?
SAD part is how the so-called critics are praising this baselessly, sending the non-Malayalee audience into a nightmare that lacks authenticity. Let's call a spade a spade - Minnal Murali is a below average film that has nothing original to offer. Whoever reviewed this movie for that newspaper needs to be honest with the audience. The producers could have trimmed its length, might have been better.
Avoid if you have watched Spiderman. Avoid it if you like Tovino Thomas. AVOID IF YOU READ SOMEWHERE THAT THIS IS THE BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE MADE IN INDIA.
Minnal Murali is the Malayalam version of what was Krish to Hindi. I sign off.