Sunday, June 26, 2022

Heaven: "Decently made investigative thriller!!!"

Ever since the lockdown ended, there has been a gush of investigative thrillers & murder mysteries; so much so that atleast a couple of them are released every month. Well is it because that the makers made an assumption that since the OTT platform had ample series belonging to that genre, hence the public might have a tendency to favour it? Hmm...I dont think so, anyway the latest flick to join the bandwagon is Unni Govindraj's "Heaven". However, unlike quite a few others; it did possess a tale that kept the audience engaged for most parts.

The movie unfolds with a charred body being found in the middle of a forest reserve. Soon enough, the police team under the command of Bijoy Kuruvilla (Sudev Nair) with the helps of the forensic dept nabs the culprit who turned out to be CI Peter Kurishingal (Suraj Venjaramoodu). The film cuts into flash back where Peter is shown as an upright police officer who was a single father as well. However, the relationship with his son is shown as rather strained though with the help of his mother, life moved on peacefully. But when he was entrusted with the task of unravelling the mystery behind a family being murdered, little did he realize that it would push him into further misery. 

This is the debut venture of Govindraj & he has certainly done a decent job with a script that he has penned along with P.S Subramanian. There is the right amount of suspense and intrigue which keeps us engaged for most parts. At the same time, there are certain elements and sequences with regard to the antagonist that kind of felt rather underwhelming. Another aspect that I felt odd was some of the side tracks which hardly any significance in the movie (might be a strategy to fox the audience, but it didnt quite work out). On the technical side, kudos to Vinod Illampally's visuals though Gopi Sundar's music was average.

As usual, Suraj has done a fine job as the sober police officer under intense emotional turmoil. The vulnerability that he brought to the character was impressive though there will obviously be voices of dissent from some quarters that he is constantly doing such characters nowadays. However, the best among the lot for me was Jaffer Idukki who was spot on while the rest of the cast such as Alencier, Sudheesh, Shyam Mohan did their parts aptly while Abhija as the Commissioner was rather mediocre.

Verdict: Certainly one of the better crafted investigative thrillers in recent times. It does have its flaws in certain parts but it does manage to keep us engaged. In short, do check it out!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben

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