After a gap of seven years, ace director and lensman KV Anand has joined actor Suriya for the third time with Kaappaan, which stars Sayyeshaa as the female lead while Mohanlal, Arya, Boman Irani, Samuthirakani and others play major roles. The venture is bankrolled by Subaskaran under the banner Lyca Productions.

Kaappaan tells the story of a proficient military intelligence officer Kathir (played by Suriya), who is assigned as an SPG protector to lead the security cover of Prime Minister Chandrakant Varma (Mohanlal). Initially, one can get a sense of what this film could've been as there is a significance to some perfunctory moments of the scene and the narrative, there is justification to Kathir's life as a villager.

But the film is more interested in the less-interesting aspects. The plot is burdened by the inanities of commercial elements. The romantic track between Kathir and Priya (played by Sayyesha) hurts the pacing and manages to dissolve the tension given by the action sequences. A major instance of that is the scene where Kathir escorts an inebriated Priya, who initially mistook him to be a terrorist. What follows is a lighter romantic sequence that reduces the tension of the plot that keeps the audience detached from the tensed action moments before.

More importance and detailing in portraying the Prime Minister's schedule is another issue. Throughout the film, we only see him attend closed-door meetings as if he forgot his entire cabinet of ministers. Also, the character doesn't receive a briefing about a deadly terrorist attack and it comes to his knowledge only after watching television news. The film doesn't manage to show the importance and gravity of such a higher position on the screen. Even the villain character is one-note and his existence in this film is to spoon-feed his each and every move to the good guys (and the audience), thereby making him less threatening.

The second half divulges into a different subplot about unleashing a bio-weapon into agricultural terrains. The subplot is convincingly connected to the crux of the story and poses really relevant ideas about farming and its significance. During the second half, certain twists turn out to be predictable but introduce us to some mildly interesting twists. But the portions still suffer from the improper placement of songs. Compared to the first half, the latter half is fairly uplifted by some rousing moments from its central character.

Technically, Kaappaan's action sequences are top-notch and MS Prabhu's cinematography aids to the making of those sequences. Suriya shoulders the whole film and appears convincing throughout, while Mohanlal gives a nice elderly presence through his character. Kaappaan had some really good ideas, and the best of them is the backstory about his secret operation that appears as a mere flashback. But that flashback makes us wish that an entire film was made on this narrative.