Coming from a bunch of youngsters is the new thriller 'Angels' which has enough to keep you hooked to your seats for much of of its 118 minutes. With a fresh narrative and interesting plot, the movie may impress all the fans of the genre, though the latter half lacks its definite punches.
The movie has Indrajith as an superintend of police , Hameem Hyder, an upright officer who demands duty of high standards. The film opens with an encounter where Hammem is wounded with two bullets shot into his leg and is left to hospital for many months to recover. He with his wife Zaina and only daughter gradually recoups and as he joins duty, is told to join as shooting trainer of Special armed Police. Hameemis a little unsatisfied for setting him aside from the infamous Semithery case, after which he was devoting his time when the attack over him happened.
The scene now shifts over to Haritha Menon, the lead anchor of 'Views 24x7 channel, where she hosts the immensely popular reality live crime show titled third eye'. One fine morning she gets a call from Fr. Varghese Punyalan, a priest known for his uncanny ways of dealing with things. He wants his new book 'Kumbasaram' to be unveiled in the coming episodes of the third eye show. Haritha , who reads the books finds it usable for her show and invites him to the live show. Interestingly on its first episode itself, the priest makes the revelation that it was he himself who had killed all the three ladies who were assassinated within a few days and which came to be known later as 'Semithery Case'. The priest shocks all and is arrested , but agrees to delve the details about the case in the second episode of the TV show but only in the presence of Hameem Haider who investigated it in the initial stages . Hammem is disinterested, but later arrives into the show and maintains that the priest was never in his list of chances of convicts and says that it was only an attempt to garner more publicity to his new book. What follows next is a big list of revelations that is unearthed live via television.
Jean Markose, the debutante director has succeeded in keeping away all those regular clichés of police thrillers like long chases, heroic fights and at least one slow-motion walking scene. Though he is rebellious, Hameem never shows any outburst or give a lengthy monologue, but behaves as a human to the core .The director needs to be given a pat for even keeping away his hero from taking a centre stage throughout the film. At the same centre of activity with the same intensity is Asha Sharath who appears as Haritha Menon and Joy Mathew, the rebel priest Fr. Varghese.
Asha has clearly forgotten the police suit she donned for ‘Drishyam’, and appears perfect as TV host, hungry for exclusivity. Joy Mathew is but the screen stealer , cheerful rebellious priest. Indrajith, as usual use the best of his chances and impresses as a dutiful cop. Also doing a good job is Baiju as the police officer who replace Indrajith as the new investigator.
The low points of the movie is its slow pacing and the final revelations about the killer. We doesn't gel well with the central mystery plot of three ladies, a gynaecologist, a corporate manager and an LIC agent killed on simultaneous days, which is clearly unconvincing as is shown. It is not explained why the S P couldn't approach the channel himself and why he is forced to take a short cut. And it is not shown how the live show cops up with the plenty of unexpected interruptions, on its way to the climax.Also the tension stuff using the vox pop and effects of the show on populace is also missing which could have added to the dramatics of the movie.
The technical sides has worked in tandem with the high standards of the narratives supported by Toni Tomy, Shabu Kilithattil and the director. Sujith Sarang provides the director with high quality visuals while Sreejith Saranag is effective as an editor and his colouring also bags applauds. Jakes Bejoy’s songs and BG scores perfectly suit the movie and raises it’s tempo making it an engaging watch without many low phases.
As the entire core of crew being newcomers, the movie must be appluaded for its clear intentions , and fresh narratives which has helped Jean to make a pretty decent debut with ‘Angels'. For all those lovers of thriller genre, this is cliché less, unpretentiously, undramatic investigative stuff in 'Angels' , though with certain loopholes. Go for it for a different experience
Rating : 6.2/10
