Michael is a film written and directed by Ranjit Jeyakodi and produced by Bharath Chowdary and Pushkar Ram under the banners Karan C Entertainments and Sree Venkateswara Cinemas. The film stars Sundeep Kishan, Divyansha Kaushik, and Gautham Menon in the lead roles while Varun Sandesh, Anasuya Bharadwaj, and others play supporting roles. Vijay Sethupathi and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar make special appearances.
Michael is a gangster film set in the 80s/90s period. Guru (Gautham Menon) is a don who is ruling Mumbai and faces a murder attempt inside the court premises only to be saved by a little boy. He asks his aide to adopt the boy, who grows up to be Michael (Sundeep Kishan). Michael saves Guru's life one more time, leaving the latter impressed. Guru sends Michael to Delhi for an assignment where he falls in love with Theera, and the mission fails. How does this change his life, and what happens after this forms the rest of the film?
When you break down the film Michael and look at each of the individual aspects, each and every department deserves heaps of praise. Sundeep Kishan is solid in the titular role and looks the part perfectly. The way he has shaped his body to become Michael is simply stunning. Gautham Menon portrays his character in a calm and composed way. Vijay Sethupathi and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar do justice to their special cameos as well, coupling mass with class.
On the technical front, Sam CS's background score is the film's biggest support. Had he faltered even at a single place the film would have completely crumbled, that's how crucial his music is to the film. The film is shot stylishly with a lot of slick slow-motion shots and that tone is maintained throughout. Both Sam CS and Kiran Koushik (Cinematographer) ensure the film is of high quality.
As mentioned before, when you look at these aspects individually, they're fantastic. But as a film is not just a sum of its parts. It's much more than that. Michael too deals with the same issue. When all these elements come together, there is a sense of letdown. It lacks cohesion and the dialogue sounds amateurish in a few crucial scenes.
The screenplay has a lot of flashback scenes but the film lacks the drama to keep us invested in them. The emotional beats are not properly established which makes it difficult to connect with the film. The voiceover in the initial portions reminds one of the KGF universes, and a different tone could have been used.
Overall, the film Michael when compared to a human has solid chiseled muscles, but the skeletal frame is not strong in the screenplay and dialogues, and if the film was a tad more engaging and non-predictable, the end product would have been miles better.