The highly anticipated Mohanlal movie featuring Vishal, Hansika, and Manju Warrier, "Villain" has the strongest star cast in Malayalam cinema recently. The investigative thriller written and directed by B Unnikrishnan has been bankrolled by Rockline Venkatesh. It is the first Indian film to be filmed entirely and released in 8K resolution, and also the first Malayalam film to have done color grading during the filming process itself. 'Villain' succeeded in creating the buzz from the very first moment Mohanlal announced it. His stylish looks, the inclusion of Vishal and Hansika, and many other factors added fuel to the expectation of the audience.

Villain is actually a question to the society, the question being "If the system fails to deliver justice, is it right or wrong for individuals to step up and deliver an alternate justice? And if someone does that, is he the Hero or the Villain?". The true essence of the movie is a debate on the topic. A purely philosophical theme that has different constraints embedded in it which makes every instance or event under consideration unique.

B Unnikrishnan is the director who has successfully created a significant number of investigative thrillers including "Grandmaster." The screenplay has been dealt decently has the family life of the protagonist in a comparatively new way and stands out tall. Mathew Manjooran and Sakthivel are the two pillars of the investigative thriller which otherwise follows the same path of every film made in the genre. The most crucial scene in a movie of this genre is the one in which the investigative officer lands on the clue that leads to the identification of the murderer. Unfortunately, Villain fails to deliver goosebumps at many places like this. The director has once again used the element where the antagonist has a fixation on the protagonist police officer in this movie. Technically brilliant, the movie could have elevated to the higher levels perfection if a novel plot was an integrated part of it.

Mohanlal is the best part of the movie and is stunning as always. His elegant screen presence, the salt n pepper look and polished acting keep you glued to your seats throughout the movie. Vishal's character is the actual epicenter of the plot, and his performance is pretty decent. Hansika has also delivered a satisfactory performance. Manju Warrier played the role of Mathew Manjooran's wife to perfection and is truly distinct. Siddique, Chemban Vinod, Renji Panicker and Raashi Khanna submit to their roles and succeed in creating a good atmosphere.

Manoj Paramahamsa and N K Ekambaram has handled the cinematography of the movie and has produced a technically sound output. The different tones used in the movie are flawless and help create the mood of the movie. Even though it does not give you a spine-chilling experience, the background score by Sushin Shyam is good. The edits by Shameer Mohammad is precise, but some VFX scenes could have been delivered better. The original soundtrack consists of five tracks and is just average as it does not lift up the movie to the levels one expect from music directors having 4 Music's caliber.

The strong points of Villain

Mohanlal
Strong Star Cast
Technical Quality
Style

What pulls down Villain
Predictability
Loopholes and repetitiveness
Lack of conviction