Patriot
- “Bland” is a word I’ve come across in multiple online takes on this film. I get where they’re coming from. Mahesh Narayanan has built a film with the structure of a rather basic mass film, but has wanted to dress it up in a way that comes across as a “subdued” and “minimal” fugitive-chase film. No, there’s no brownie points from me for “sensibility” - because the same sensibility is making me ask for more thought to chew on. The promise of conventional beats in the structure never translate into suckerpunches or “highs” as the conventional phrasing goes.
- The broadness of the narrative could’ve made way for more cheap thrills, but I get that they didn’t want to be swayed by the easier route. But the problem here is that the narrative still remains broad. With the way the film looks, and behaves, it’s hard not to expect some more depth to the proceedings. The filmmaking is slick, the direction is serious, but the content is not as smart. Thus, the “what could’ve been” weighs heavier than the what-is.
- In the initial hour, the screenplay feels like it chooses new-character-establishment over plot - with overlong intro scenes and not-so-memorable songs to establish characters. And these choices are glaring because there’s clear visibility on areas that the film could’ve focused on instead. Establishing Fahadh’s complicated relationship with his father. Kunchako Boban and Fahadh’s companionship. Or even more on the nefariousness of Periscope - the true blue villain in the story.
- For a film that begins by talking to victims of a surveillance state, it’s jarring the very moment the antagonist is reduced to a singular villain figure. He may have complex psychology, but Fahadh pitches him as any other villain. His owl-eyed schtick sticks out quite hard in this film because of how predictable it’s become from him as an actor. The character is fairly interesting, but gets very little time to reach those depths of interest. The dynamic with his father is an underwritten angle. Introducing a villain with a story of grit-in-a-moment-of-weakness, is another good concept but I barely felt that grit. Until Daniel’s narration, that whole elaborate jet plane set-piece had made me feel nothing. These are good ideas with how they sound, but they simply don’t show up on screen.
- Surveillance as a subject is enough - personifying it with a minor girl victim, her dead father - it all gets a tad too singular, again broadly cinematic, and familiar even. Same goes for attributing an easy face to the villain. I absolutely didn’t enjoy how the film sets up a thesis on surveillance - but drops it all for basic corporate villainy. Until the bits in UAE, with the clever track on the techno-human, I believed we were heading in an interesting direction. For a film that looks so serious, it stops asking us serious questions after this point. From here, it’s all just a narrative of how and what. By focusing too much on exposition and expedition, it loses any potential for the philosophical or political. What could’ve been a cautionary tale for society at large, becomes a conflict between a set of people who belong to one clique.
- There’s some glaringly sloppy moments too - Michael (Kunchako Boban) choosing a rented car to drive the distance. The eye-blinking morse code when there were a whole bunch of people alive with the same knowledge. Gosh.
- More of what I liked - Sushin Shyam’s work that doesn’t want to be overt and just about complements the proceedings. The first morse code reveal between the veterans. Mohanlal’s ease. The talking-heads bit that the film starts with - promising a larger discourse than what we eventually get. The neatness in Manush Nandan’s frames. The pacing, because the makers don't want to rush through any sequence, and give the moments and information their due.
- The production value is genuinely good, there’s true sleekness in the edit - wouldn’t expect less from Mahesh - all identifiable pretty early on into the film. The action is tight, and correct - but just not inspiring. They even deliberately hold back on having - to put it crudely - dudes-rock shots in spite of the casting coup they’ve pulled off. The holding-back of genre frills is frustrating after a point - especially when the actors seem to be having fun sharing space, in what definitely is a conventional saga.
