Marco Review..!!
We’ve seen so many slasher films that are so brutal, having portrayed excessive blood and gore. There are films with depressive content. Finally, we have a vicious and sadistic action flick coming out of Malayalam Cinema Industry with technical richness and grandeur making. Marco was marketed during its filming as the most violent film from Mollywood. Even the makers emphasized on this promotional tagline prior to its release. Haneef Adeni directs Unni Mukundan, who plays the title character Marco and various sources reported the film to be a prequel to Mikhael. Marco was Unni’s character in that film. Alongside Unni, Siddique also reprises his role of George Peter from the film. The posters and the few promotional materials that were out, raised the bar and the buzz went sky high for the film. There were a large set of audience waiting for the film, despite the director and actor’s individual projects prior to the film were disasters.
The first impression that we get from the opening scene of Marco is that ‘Violence’ will be delivered as promised. The dark shady tone and the pulsating background score is just the right dose for a violent film. It takes time to introduce hero and while we wait, we are introduced to the menacing villains of the films through unsettling dialogues and chilling frames. Yes, the build up is way more dramatic and they are unapologetically creepy, especially the dialogues seemed silly at times. It is the dark tone of the film that holds the attention and probably fast paced cuts. Haneef, as a director doesn’t get carried away and the scenes are not prolonging, hence making them bearable.
As soon as the titular character is introduced, we see a vengeance driven narrative. Those sequences are half-baked and it certainly demanded a high moment to keep things moving. Ravi Basrur’s background score is the only thing that works entirely for the film at this point. Suddenly, we see the much needed game changing segment that comes at the intermission point. We’ve lost an hour for the buildups and drama, while yet to unleash the violent nature of the film. This is at this point, even the script and the characters make some sense. We see a full-blown loud action feast which brings Unni into the big picture as Marco. He is unflinching and fearless, someone who can take down the world on his own.
The film never has to look back from this moment as it is full of gore and bloodshed. The action sequences are top notch especially, the efforts of Unni cannot be appreciated enough. He has certainly catapulted himself into thath big league with a solid screen presence and charisma, maybe dialogue delivery is where he could put more focus on. We see a terrifying villain in Kabir Duhan Singh, who has done things that no other actors have done as an antagonist. The latter half is filled with more gore and violence and this has been the MVP of the film. Siddique & Jagadish do get to shine in their own roles but it is the script that lets down their scope gor performance. Their characters get to lose steam too quickly. Again, the casting hasn’t been that good, this has been one of the major drawbacks.
The film has heavily drawn inspiration from several films and pays homage to some of the iconic action scenes. But the film isn’t entirely mimicking any original content. For example, the entire theme of the film reminds us of the popular film KGF, directed by Prasanth Neel. The KGF-esque format goes deep in the film and the lead character itself is sketched similar to that from KGF. But it is way darker and more greyish than KGF. The red and black theme is pitch perfect for the violent nature of the film. The fight sequences are well choreographed, which literally holds the film from lagging behind. The intermission block sequence, OldBoy reminiscing staircase fight, climax action episode, etc are adrenaline pumping moments in the film. The lead character dons a suit like John Wick. The background score from Ravi Basrur is one of the most pumping music for an action film in recent times.
And finally, despite a cliched template, Marco is a vicious bloodbath that draws heavy inspiration from several action films.