August 15

Director Siby Malayil's 1988 film August 1, which was said to be inspired from the 1973 movie The Day of the Jackal, was superb movie with its credible script and lively and powerful characters. But its sequel August 15, which has been directed by Shaji Kailas, disappoints the movie buffs and reason for it is that this movie suffers from a weak story and an old fashioned narration. It is a letdown in comparison to its old installment.

Producer M Mani's August 15 is a suspense thriller and superstar Mammootty's cool performance and Lalu Alex's comedy timings are the two mjor highlights. The movie is all about senior CID officer Perumal, who is entrusted with the mission of finding the murderers of Chief Minister Vasudevan. It throws light on present political situation in Kerala especially on issues like lottery and land mafia.

But the movie disappoints the audience mainly because of its poor script and weak narration. Scriptwriter SN Swamy has repeated the same mistakes that he made in Sagar Alias Jackey, Baba Kaliyani, Positive and Rahasya Police. His biggest mistake in this suspense thriller is that the secret that he wants to unravel in the climax, is being revealed at the very beginning of the first half. And for the next 2 hours, everything becomes predictable. The climax also resembles a sequence from Hollywood film Inglourious Basterds.