Bazooka: Mammootty shines in a film that looks like a fashion show
Bazooka can refer to a weapon – a rocket launcher balanced on your shoulder – or a musical instrument that’s shaped like a funnel. You’d wish it stayed that way, as a weapon or an instrument, and did not end up as a movie that even an actor of Mammootty’s calibre could do little by way of saving. There is no sugarcoating it: Bazooka is one of the worst choices that Mammootty has made in recent years. Save for becoming a reminder of his debonair style and a climax that allows the actor to explore his range, Bazooka has little to say for itself. The film is written and directed by debutant Deeno Dennis, and you can imagine how a synopsis of the script would have impressed. Deeno has cracked that difficult part – of ideation. It follows the cat-and-mouse template, the familiar trope of a police team chasing after an unknown thief, but throws in a novelty with gaming. The antagonist is a gamer, posing a new level of challenge to the police every time, luring them to the final round. A storyline that would sound enticing until the script is laid out in front of you. In converting the idea into a film, the writing slips, the idea itself fades into the background, and all you see on the surface is layers and layers of pretension that sticks out in the look, sound, and feel of the film. A mostly impassive Gautham Menon heads the police team, and a charming Mammootty plays storyteller as he narrates the sequence of events to an interested co-passenger on a bus, played by Hakkim Shah. From the word go, the focus is on style, appearances, and added effect granted by a generous supply of music - hip-hop, rock, English, but most of all, unexpected. Half the script, you imagine, must have gone to describing style. There are so many stylish entries of Mammootty (and even Gautham Menon gets one) that it’d seem like the film forgot it is a film and began acting like an unsolicited fashion show. You might actually sit back and enjoy the show if you are into all that, but even the most indifferent viewer can’t help notice the makeovers. Mammootty is introduced all geek-like in a pair of jeans and smart specs but wears a half-ponytail through another long sequence and then again appears in a suit, driving vintage cars and motorbikes. Of course, he can also, at will, deliver superhuman punches and fight many men down. All these and several dialogues – supposedly delivered as punch lines or else philosophical rejoinders, it is not clear which – come thundering with music. The movie appears aimed at fans of the superstar, slow motions and suave strides and gestures acting as cue cards for applause. Or perhaps, that is all you remember, for the words turn into riddles and the actions, ridiculous. Mammootty, even amid all the grandeur, gets to prove his flexibility and adaptability, and that is one of the few takeaways from an otherwise disappointing outing. Hakkim and Siddharth Bharathan (as one of the cops) give their usual best, but it goes unnoticeable in a wannabe film. If Deeno could let go of the superficial, work on the core idea, and fall back on genuine storytelling, it would be nice. Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.
BAZOOKA can refer to a weapon – a rocket launcher balanced on your shoulder – or a musical instrument that’s shaped like a funnel. You’d wish it stayed that way, as a weapon or an instrument, and did not end up as a movie that even an actor of Mammootty’s calibre could do little by way of saving.
There is no sugarcoating it: Bazooka is one of the worst choices that Mammootty has made in recent years. Save for becoming a reminder of his debonair style and a climax that allows the actor to explore his range, Bazooka has little to say for itself.
The film is written and directed by debutant Deeno Dennis, and you can imagine how a synopsis of the script would have impressed. Deeno has cracked that difficult part – of ideation. It follows the cat-and-mouse template, the familiar trope of a police team chasing after an unknown thief, but throws in a novelty with gaming.
The antagonist is a gamer, posing a new level of challenge to the police every time, luring them to the final round. A storyline that would sound enticing until the script is laid out in front of you. In converting the idea into a film, the writing slips, the idea itself fades into the background, and all you see on the surface is layers and layers of pretension that sticks out in the look, sound, and feel of the film.
A mostly impassive Gautham Menon heads the police team, and a charming Mammootty plays storyteller as he narrates the sequence of events to an interested co-passenger on a bus, played by Hakkim Shah. From the word go, the focus is on style, appearances, and added effect granted by a generous supply of music - hip-hop, rock, English, but most of all, unexpected. Half the script, you imagine, must have gone to describing style.
There are so many stylish entries of Mammootty (and even Gautham Menon gets one) that it’d seem like the film forgot it is a film and began acting like an unsolicited fashion show.
You might actually sit back and enjoy the show if you are into all that, but even the most indifferent viewer can’t help notice the makeovers. Mammootty is introduced all geek-like in a pair of jeans and smart specs but wears a half-ponytail through another long sequence and then again appears in a suit, driving vintage cars and motorbikes.
Of course, he can also, at will, deliver superhuman punches and fight many men down. All these and several dialogues – supposedly delivered as punch lines or else philosophical rejoinders, it is not clear which – come thundering with music. The movie appears aimed at fans of the superstar, slow motions and suave strides and gestures acting as cue cards for applause.
Or perhaps, that is all you remember, for the words turn into riddles and the actions, ridiculous.
Mammootty, even amid all the grandeur, gets to prove his flexibility and adaptability, and that is one of the few takeaways from an otherwise disappointing outing. Hakkim and Siddharth Bharathan (as one of the cops) give their usual best, but it goes unnoticeable in a wannabe film.
If Deeno could let go of the superficial, work on the core idea, and fall back on genuine storytelling, it would be nice.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.
