'Christopher' movie review: Unnikrishnan-Udayakrishna deliver a pretty engaging thriller

Mammootty's phenomenal return in 2022 were marked by some hit films, including 'Bheeshma Parvam' and 'Rorschach'. His willingness to tap and reinvent on his style, has made him even more appealing to his fans today. In 'Christopher' too, which is Mammootty's second outing with director B Unnikrishnan, this style has not been compromised. However, 'Christopher' is not that type of stylish film that depends solely on the heroics of the actor. The subject itself is quite serious and reflects on today's times as it revolves around a vigilante cop who investigates a series of crimes involving women.

He has a tragic backstory that makes him very impatient with criminals, especially those who commit heinous crimes on women. Though many hail him as a hero, an inquiry by police officer Sulekha (Amala Paul) is launched to rein in on his vigilante ways. The movie moves forward in this direction. Though he can be ruthless, Christopher does not wield his gun at every occasion. He is calculative, yet meticulous and in control of the situation, just like a daring cop would be. Mammootty infuses life into this character, though there is nothing really challenging for him to do, except in a few action scenes. The rest, including the emotions that he displays, comes easily to him.

Some of the dialogues, like 'Thokkinte Munbil Enthu Trimurthi, Kaanji Valichal Unda Kayarum' (What significance does Trimurthi have in front of a gun), is mass and reminds you of Neyyatinkara Gopan's mass dialogue 'Nenu Chaala Dangerous' in 'Aaraattu', which was also written by Udayakrishna.

The first half of the movie, like any decent investigation thriller, is really engaging. More than the suspense, the writer Udayakrishna has focused on building a good narrative by connecting all the dots. To an extent, this makes the film quite predictable, especially since by then, we are aware of the type of criminals under Christopher's radar.

Since the situations and characters have been fleshed out quite well, we won't complain. The slow motion scenes and the repetitive pattern of the crimes, which were included in the second half, results in a lag. Too many characters and scenes did impact the smooth flow of the film at times, though the makers balanced it with some impressive twists.

Unnikrishnan and Udayakrishna's previous work 'Aarattu', which featured Mohanlal in the lead, had not really gone down well with the audience, but this time, they have managed to pull off a pretty decent thriller, that is quite relatable to the audience. A mother's emotion when her daughter is raped and killed and a father's helplessness when their daughter becomes a victim of an acid attack, touches you profoundly.

The performances by all the main characters, including Amala Paul, Sneha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Vinay Rai, Remya Suresh, Nitin Thomas are also spot on. This is Tamil actor Vinay Rai's debut in Mollywood and he manages to play an effective villain in the movie.

Christopher's entry and the BGM used to elevate the scene bears a slight resemblance to Sethurama Iyer's iconic entry in the CBI series. The music by Justin Varghese complements the movie in many places, though at times, the background score seemed complicated for the scene.