Biju Menon is slowly and steadily carving out a space for him in Malayalam cinema by doing a variety of roles in recent times. This time he has joined hands with the highly talented actor Indrajith in a thriller written by the Drishyam director Jeethu Joseph.

Lakshyam, directed by debutant Anzar Khan tells the story of two convicts, Vimal and Musthafa. Vimal is a rich businessman charged with murder while Musthafa is a petty thief. They escape into the woods when the police jeep transporting them from Peerimedu to Ernakulam gets overturned in an accident. Their struggle to avoid getting caught and the mysteries that unveil during the process form the crux of the movie.

The film has a major portion of it inside a dense forest and has all the thrills that come along with it. The fact that such sequences become highly predictable in a movie with the central characters trapped in a forest, diminishes the excitement the makers intended to induce in the audience. Twists that surface themselves as the screenplay progresses have mettle in it, but the situations and story backing it seem shallow.

The director has done his job decently but the lack of novelty in the structure of the script softens the excitement it instills, despite having some good moments in it. The lack of clarity regarding the character played by Sshivada also adds on to dilute the effect that a well polished screenplay and story telling would have produced.

Even though there are no extraordinary moments in it, the cinematography by Sinu Sidharth is good as it supports the movie and helps to incite the necessary 'trapped in the forest' feel. The movie has one song sung by Vijay Yesudas and the music by M Jayachandran has a good feel to it.

Biju Menon's wits make the first half an enjoyable ride. As always, he stands out with his impeccable comedy timing and good acting. Indrajith gives a convincing performance along with the leading lady Sshivada.

Positives
Biju Menon's comedy
Twists and some good sequences
Indrajith and Sshivada

Negatives
Lack of novelty
Predictability
Absence of the X-factor that puts soul into a movie