My favorite Superhero movie ever!
In a night of a rare planetary alignment, lightning hit two men of the same village, causing them to develop superpowers.
Jaison (played by Tovino Thomas), is a young tailor who dreams of leaving the village to achieve fortune and success.
Shibu (played by Guru Somasundaram), a lonely worker obsessed with the same woman since his childhood.
Minnal Murali is an exceptional superhero movie. It follows some tropes of the superhero genre, like how they discover their powers in a funny way or the epic scene of saving a bunch of people (including a kid) of certain death.
But it breaks other overused elements. Instead of a big western city, or saving the world, everything takes place in the village with all its unique traits, what makes a very particular movie.
The villain and hero are also very particular. First, in their similarities. Both are poor workers, who are often mistreated and considered unworthy of the women they love. I love Jaison in special, as a Hero because he’s not a cop, billionaire or soldier from a war criminal country. He is a poor worker trying to get by and make his material conditions better, like most of us.
Neither of the guys are fundamentally good or bad, having ambiguity in their actions, so what makes them turn into a hero or a villain are a few details.
The one that caught my attention the most was how Shibu only has the distrust of people, always believing he will become “crazy like his mother”. While Jaison has a heroic inspiration that I won’t mention (to avoid spoilers) and the support of his family and friends.
Among those supporting Jaison, I have two favorites: his nephew Josemon (played by Vasisht Umesh) and friend Biji (played by Femina George).
Josemon was great at bringing the wonder of a kid who knows superheroes from comics and now sees his uncle turning into one.
Biji teaches kung-fu to kids, is courageous and smart. I love almost every time she’s on screen and think she could have a bigger role.
All of them give exceptional performances, my favorites being the protagonist and antagonist. Tovino Thomas I already knew from a film I still didn’t review, and he didn’t disappoint. Guru was new to me, outstanding performance.
The story is told marvelously. After the (literally) explosive opening that gets our attention immediately, we watch the lives of Jaison and Shibu unfold simultaneously without a rush. So we get to know everyone in their lives, their relationships and the dynamic of the village.
After the setup, we still follow the two guys with very close parallels. While Jaison is discovering his powers, Shibu does it as well, in his own way. When they decide to conceal their identity, to make some stuff, they pick up a mask at the same time. So on, their story unfolds like a mirror of each other.
During these first two acts, what we have is mostly a very nice comedy movie, but with space for some family drama, action and adventure. So, although the most obvious tone was the humorous one, the movie was also competent in stirring emotions in the viewers.
A thing a would like to call attention to about these first two acts, is that there are some very subtle setups that’ll only payoff in key moments of the film.
Then we get to the last act. I won’t cite specific events to avoid spoilers.
In the third act, things get much more severe and dark. The comedy takes a step back, taking the climax to a more thoughtful moment, giving it a sense of depth and urgency. Then, concluding in a hopeful message, laying the groundwork for the sequel. I think it was perfect.
Overall, Minnal Murali has a great flow, so even though it has 2 hours and 40 minutes of duration, it’s easy to watch. I watched twice, first just for fun and the second while taking notes for the review, and it did not bore in any moment.
The only thing I think could be better in this aspect is the excess of montages. It’s not annoying as The Founder from 2016, but still a lot.
The visual of the movie is another remarkable thing about this movie. The cinematography is beautiful from beginning to end, with amazing settings like the village and its surroundings. I like especially the scenes with fire. I don’t know what it is, I just love them.
The special effects are also pretty decent. There are some digital elements that are not 100%, like a floating cat, and some subpar make-up, like a wound in Josemon’s cheek. The rest was fine.
And to complete, the score is great. I’m was not really a fan of the romantic songs with singing, but despite of that they’re all amazing and full of personality, the song of the climax that I think is the theme song was my favorite.
Minnal Murali is by far the best one of these three Superhero or Comic Book movies we just talked about. It might even be my favorite Superhero movie in general. There’s nothing I dislike except the excess of montages. I’ll give Minnal Murali a 9!
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