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12th Man Movie Review: Mohanlal Excels In This Well-Crafted, Engaging Thriller
12th Man, the highly anticipated project that marks the reunion of Mohanlal and director Jeethu Joseph, has finally been released on Disney+ Hotstar. The project, which is touted to be a mystery thriller, had garnered the attention of viewers with its teaser and trailer. 12th Man is bankrolled by Antony Perumbavoor, under the banner Aashirvad Cinemas.
Did the Mohanlal-Jeethu Joseph project live up to expectations? Read the 12th Man movie review here, to know...
*No Spoilers Ahead*
What's Yay:
Mohanlal
Jeethu Joseph's making style
Engaging narrative
What's Nay:
Predictability
Duration & Slow pace
Plot
12th Man revolves around a group of friends, who travel together to a hill station to celebrate the bachelor party of Siddharth (Anu Mohan). The friends come across Chandrasekhar (Mohanlal), an alcoholic, and are instantly annoyed with his antics. However, things take an unexpected turn with the mysterious death of Shiny (Anusree), the wife of Mathew (Saiju Kurup). This leads to a lot of secrets getting unraveled.
Script & Direction
Director Jeethu Joseph and scriptwriter KR Krishna Kumar have created a well-crafted thriller from the story idea of Sunir Khertarpal. The film takes its own sweet time to establish its main characters and premise, in Jeethu Joseph's signature style. But once things get on track, the Mohanlal-starrer becomes an appealing and engaging watch for most of its parts, despite its long duration and occasional slow pace.
The biggest positive factor of 12th Man is unarguably the making style of Jeethu Joseph, which transports the viewers into its world. The Mohanlal-starrer is primarily set in a single room and the narrative unfolds through the conversations between the 11 and Mohanlal's character. But this doesn't prevent the Jeethu Joseph directorial from emerging as an intriguing watch. The carefully written screenplay is truly the backbone of the film.
However, 12th Man is not a flawless movie. Too many characters and backstories tend to get confusing at certain points. Some of the major revelations in the narrative are highly predictable, thanks to the storyline that somewhere reminds us of the tv soap plots. Even though the climax brings an unexpected twist, it didn't create the much-needed impact. While a couple of characters are well fleshed out, others are ignored in the process. Sadly, this list even includes the character played by Mohanlal.
Performances
Mohanlal excels as Chandrasekhar, who is an alcoholic in the film. Even though the under-developed character is a cakewalk for the superstar, he makes it appealing with his energetic yet balanced performance.
Anusree plays the most layered character of 12th Man, and she has delivered an impressive performance. The rest of the star cast, including Saiju Kurup, Sshivada, Unni Mukundan, Anu Sithara, Chandhunath, Rahul Madhav, Priyanka Nair, Anu Mohan, Aditi Ravi, Leona Lishoy, Nandu, Siddique, Pradeep Chandran, and others have also played their parts well.
Technical Aspects
Satheesh Kurup's excellent visuals create a perfect backdrop for the mystery thriller. VS Vinayak scores with the editing of 12th Man (the scene transitions were quite effective). The art department headed by Rajeev Kovilakam has done a fabulous job with the custom-made sets of the film.
Music
Anil Johnson's background score elevates the narrative of 12th Man for most of the parts but sometimes becomes repetitive at certain points. The impactful title song sets the right mood for the premise.
Verdict
12th Man is a well-crafted, engaging mystery thriller that can be watched for Mohanlal's performance and Jeethu Joseph's signature making style. But don't expect the Drishyam magic here.
