Twenty 20 Malayalam Movie
20:20 offers an extravagant spectacle that exudes surface luminance, but which soon gives way to a messed up interior that's all potholes and bumps. A wannabe thriller, it scuttles along Mediocrity Highway armed with some natty twists, corny dialogue, stale stereotypes and zero exposé value.
For all the fending off, for all the blockading, there is finally an explanation. If you were like me, wondering what was so enigmatic about that plot that was being kept under wraps for ages, let me tell you we figured it all wrong. There never was a plot in the first place, folks. All those text messages and tons of vagrant news reports that claimed to have a know-how regarding the tale were no better than blank shots in a dark night - simply way off target.
It's indeed a gargantuan task at hand, when you have three stalwarts in an industry and you need to work things around to see that none is let down. That's when they occupy center stage, and the rest of it including the storyline is cautiously appended all around them regardless of any reason or rationale. Mammootty, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi need to match it up and they do; word for word, blow for blow and bullet for bullet. They are all simply splendid and there isn't a possibility for any hardcore supporter out there to cry hoarse; it's all blandly equal. Everybody wins. Peace.
There are just a couple of peculiar moments that shook me out of the trance in this almost three and a half hour film that resembles an extended stage show. Too many stars, too much chatter, too little action, and even lesser logic. The film is full of minuscule bits and pieces that don't add up into something much significant. This isn't much of a pretty picture except for the glitz that has been splattered all over in abundance.
I do hand it over to the script that has found something for almost anyone and everyone scurrying around to grace that itsy bit of screen time that they would be offered. Do not dare bat an eyelid, lest you miss a few of the mammoth star cast. There is so much of talent at hand, and it's an irony when it boomerangs on you because you don't know what to do with it. There is no end to the theatrics that have been devised with this end in mind, and this is exactly where the film nosedives into a stupor.
I am sure this one is going to have a dream run at the box-office irrespective of the bounty of misfires, some real awkward action exploits and quite a few tedious dialogues. For this is a cat-and-mouse game that has those punch lines coming in at regular intervals. The scene buildups are quite fake but the momentum is pretty even all the way through. So if you have stowed your notions of judgment somewhere deep down, you are unlikely to have much of a problem steering through it.
As a collective endeavor that needs to be valued for the stupendous effort behind it, the film could perhaps be revered. As a specimen piece of filmmaking, it has nothing more to offer than a dazzling showcase of stars just being themselves and generally having a whale of a time.
Fan factions battle it out in the cinema hall even as the twin M's proclaim war on screen. I watch haplessly at the pointlessness of it all, channel my senses back to the star-studded affair and figure out with a sigh, that in 20:20, the cast is what evidently outshines the content.
OTHER REVIEWS
