Ace scriptwriters Uday K Thomas-Sibi K Thomas and senior director Joshy has faithfully repeated their trademark recipes that made the big hit 'Twenty:20' for their new multistarrer 'Christian Brothers'. And evidently the movie has turned out into a power packed entertainer with plenty of thrills, songs and other masala fares.
The movie as expected presents its four heroes in their stylish avatars, voicing punchlines and engaging in well choreographed action sequences.
'Christian Brothers' has superstar Mohanlal as Christie alias 'Sherson', the elder brother of Jojy (Dileep), Jessy (Lakshmi Gopalaswamy) and Stella (Kaniha) who belongs to the wealthy and eminent Palamattam Tharavadu. Christie and Jojy but failed to be in the mould and interests of their famous father Capt. Varghese Mappilai (Sai Kumar), the former turning into a police informer based in Mumbai, and the later opting out of priest hood after falling in love with Meenakshi (Kavya Madhavan), the daughter of State home minister.
The movie doesn't take time for a safe landing with issues addressed from the minute one, ranging from deals of land mafia, murder of upright village officer Kochuthoma (Jagathy Sreekumar), and the opponents led by Thampy (Vijayaraghavan) and his sons, including the I PS officer (Biju Menon), the kidnapping of Meenakshi and much more.
The only problem with the movie seems to be that it has nothing ground breakable about its plot and also its length which extends to a little more than three hours. But Siby K Thomas and Uday Krishna have deftly handled the complicated plot most of the time, with twists after twists coming up in every twenty minutes, of which some are predictable. Though some of the tracks remind you of Hindi and Tamil thrillers, the immense experience of director Joshy in doing justice to vintage formulas, manages to pull it off to a safe entertainer. The later half appear a little dragging at times, though the drama keeps you hooked and viewers won't find the pace slackened in the most of the presentations.
The technical aspects are also fine with Anil Nair' making some good visuals and Deepak Dev' churning in some good songs, though the one that pops up in the later half seems misplaced and unwarranted...
In the acting side, the movie is embellished with fairly good performances, though it may appear customary for the regulars of masala flicks. Mohanlal has a perfect commercial opening in the New Year as Christie, with all traits of a superhero and admirable mannerisms. His dialogue delivery and action are as usual, fine. The movie has everything for the Lal fans to celebrate, except for an average introduction.
The other star who impresses much is Sureshgopi, in his regular avatar like his role of 'Twenty:20'. Dileep repeats his trademark act while Tamil star Sarath Kumar, though in a short role is effective. The heroines looks pretty but don't have much to do, though Kaniha appears to be the best among them. Sai Kumar, Vijayaraghavan, Suresh Krishna, Biju Menon, Devan and Jagathy Sreekumar are apt in their roles. Salim Kumar and Harisree Asokan try their best to create some fun but with limited success, while Suraj repeats his antics which fails to make the viewers merry.
'Christian Brothers' is a definite prescription for all lovers of heavy masala fares of Mollywood. At the box-office, 'Christian Brothers' will have a good opening and may end up as 'more than a safer hit' in days to come!
