Bazooka movie review: Mammootty tries to elevate ‘gaming’ thriller in last 30 minutes, but is that enough?

2.5/5

Bazooka movie story: Kochi ACP Benjamin Joshua (Gautham Vasudev Menon), and his team’s - Arjun (Siddarth Bharathan), Tony (Dinu Dennis ) and Sanya (Bhama Arun) – clean-up drive of the city hits a roadblock when they encounter a new adversary. This time, they are up against a master gamer who carries out masterful heists, much to the chagrin of Joshua and the team. It’s even more frustrating for them when they realize that before each heist, the mastermind had let them know about his plan.

They then enlist the help of former forensic expert John Caesar (Mammootty), who turns the tables on the gamer and gives him a taste of his own medicine.

Bazooka movie review: A few days ago, Gautham Vasudev Menon, who plays ACP Benjamin Joshua in Bazooka had let out a major spoiler that no one caught on to during a rapid-fire round in a promotional interview. Turns out that is the only element that salvages debutant director Deeno Dennis’ Bazooka. That’s about the most by way of spoiler in this review.

The film is an extension of leading man Mammootty’s ongoing obsession with doing films and characters that give him something new to do, which, becomes evident only in the last 20-30 minutes. Until then, his role actually feels quite routine – the expert that the cops call in to help them crack a case that’s become difficult for them. The longer messy hair and tiny ponytail notwithstanding, the man still looks amazing on screen. Sadly, that’s about all by way of positives and not enough to make for a satisfying watch. If 2 out of 2 and a half hours are a drag to watch, there’s really no point in hoping that those 30 minutes will do the trick. Bazooka is no Kantara.

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The first half was supremely haphazard, taking place during a bus ride to Bengaluru, including an absolutely wasteful action sequence involving a gang of bikers and another, which, as it turns out, has some significance in the larger scheme of things, but was staged so badly, it was laughable. Imagine 5 people with sophisticated weaponry in a shoot-out with Mammootty, while he takes shelter behind a roadside daaba’s table. There’s more to that story, but at that point, you cannot help but laugh at how ridiculous it seems as it plays out.

My biggest peeve about Bazooka, though, is the casting of Gautham Vasudev Menon; for the life of me, I cannot fathom the value add he brings to the role. Even though more than half of his lines are in English, his Malayalam delivery continues to be jarring. The only time he does sound normal is when he has a couple of lines in Tamil early on; the rest of the way, he struggles with when and where to stress on syllables. For some reason, the filmmakers seemed to have liked his Malayalam so much that he’s even been given the responsibility of the anti-tobacco disclaimer. Sigh!

The heists, by themselves, are not thrilling, and the final reveal of the perpetrator does not help this cause much. The BGM, if considered as a stand-alone element, has a series of pulsating bits, but it's often not in sync with what’s on screen, oscillating wildly between overwhelming and underwhelming. Saeed Abbas, who replaced Midhun Mukundan (of Rorschach, Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana, Toby fame), late last year, seems to have thrown his entire repertoire into the film.

Bazooka movie verdict: A decent concept marred by the making – that is how Bazooka can be best described. Is the film meant for hardcore Mammootty fans or for the gamer community? That’s the befuddling bit, because it does not do justice to either.