L2 Empuraan movie review: Prithviraj Sukumaran elevates the stakes with an ambitious but less nuanced follow-up to Lucifer

3.5/5

L2 Empuraan story: Five years into Jatin Ramdas’ underwhelming and tainted tenure as Kerala’s chief minister, a new political force is on the rise. Meanwhile, halfway across the world, Khureshi Ab’raam faces mounting threats from the Kabuga clan and the Shen Triad. But when the so-called saviour of God’s Own Country succumbs to corruption, Ab’raam is compelled to turn his attention homeward.

L2 Empuraan review: A month after the success of Lucifer in 2019, actor-director Prithviraj Sukumaran had said that it wasn’t in him or writer Murali Gopy to make a flat film, alluding to the multiple, nuanced layers of the Mohanlal-starrer that was a gift that kept on giving with every repeat watch. That’s also one of the reasons the hype for Empuraan, even if you take out its budget, scale, marketing and star cast, was at an all-time high. There’s an expectation that this writer-director duo respects their audience’s intellect, while ensuring they don’t sacrifice any of what they want to convey for the sake of mindless entertainment.

In the case of Empuraan, the makers mount a Malayalam film on a scale not done before. You have action sequences featuring military helicopters, iconic frames from locations in the US and even a CGI-driven opening credit sequence that would sear the intensity of what’s happening into people’s minds and hearts. And then you have Prithviraj presenting his protagonist Khureshi Ab’raam aka Stephen Nedumpally (Mohanlal) in ways that would make every filmmaker with a balanced commercial and artistic sensibility, proud. The director ensures that there’s an amount of gravitas every time the character is on screen.

Just like Lucifer, Mohanlal’s screen time here is limited and that amplifies the impact. Just like Lucifer, there’s a rousing speech against the backdrop of political turmoil within the IUF party. Just like Lucifer, Deepak Dev’s songs Kadavule Pole and Empuraane play, but with a more frenetic tempo and succeed in sending the fans into a frenzy. Just like Lucifer, Murali’s writing is rich with Bible metaphors about fallen angels and resurrection. But unlike Lucifer, the movie is less nuanced. It’s more in your face. The L motifs were placed cleverly, but after a point it becomes redundant.

The stakes are higher this time, as compared to Lucifer, as the movie follows the Khureshi Ab’raam nexus and the MI6 while also showcasing what’s happening in Kerala’s political landscape. Murali’s writing also mirrors the current socio-political events, through the entry of a right-wing political party in the State and its nefarious agenda. But this constant shuttling between global events, revolving around a gold-and-diamond nexus and African, Chinese drug cartels and the MI6, and what’s happening in Kerala, don’t let you sink into one or the other.

It almost seems that world-building was the priority in the film, rather than telling a story that would connect with the audience. The emotional connect doesn’t come from any of the characters that got their backstories in Lucifer, but from Zayed Masood (Prithviraj). The director deserves credit for making sure that the sequences, about the massacre that killed Masood’s family, were treated with as much importance – both in terms of scale and storytelling – as the action or the (multiple) intro sequences of Mohanlal.

Mohanlal lends gravitas to the role of Khureshi Ab’raam, none more evident than the scene where he turns back and reveals his ‘face to the world’. Also, this time, there’s no need to wear his political identity as Stephen Nedumpally, and this lets him unleash a certain level of imperiousness that shows in every conversation he has with Kabuga or with Jatin (Tovino) and Balraj (Abhimanyu Singh).

Manju Warrier’s Priyadarshini gets more screentime in Empuraan and is one of the shining lights in the film, where the style could have trumped performances. Abhimanyu Singh gets a meaty role in Empuraan, but is he a more memorable villain than Vivek Oberoi’s Bobby? Probably not. Tovino as CM Jatin brings charm as well as arrogance of a man who believes he is in control, when he is clearly not.

Even though the three-hour-long movie might seem stretched especially during the action scenes, you cannot deny that the cinematographer Sujit Vaassudev’s frames as visually captivating.

In a recent interview, Prithviraj had quoted Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight’s screenplay, saying that scenes were either about Batman or with Batman. While Khureshi Ab’raam’s absence for a lot of the film, or even his expressions that don’t give much, does somehow add a lot to the movie, especially in the ending where you see him crestfallen for probably the second time in the franchise. But you wish that the actor-filmmaker had also taken Nolan’s cue, when the latter said that he never attempted to save anything for a sequel. Because what strengthens and yet pulls Empuraan down is its world-building exercise, which might only pay off in the third instalment.

L2 Empuraan verdict: Mohanlal and Prithviraj Sukumaran’s ambitious follow-up to Lucifer dazzles in scale. The film manages to expand the universe and has enough to keep fans of both actors entertained. This, however, comes at the cost of finesse that Lucifer had.