Psycho-killer movies, in general, have the quality of being disturbing, even if they are predictable or cliched. But Amala, directed by Nishad Ebrahim, is one thriller that becomes highly annoying because of the kind of amateurishness in how it was conceived. With a talented Appani Sarath struggling to make the antagonist intimidating, Amala is ambitious only as a one-liner.
The movie revolves around an investigation of a murder. ACP Akbar Ali and SI George are trying to find the murderer. Meanwhile, in another track, we have a different story where a girl is going to a house inside the forest in a private taxi. With only two girls alone in that house, there were some tensions as the taxi driver behaved very suspiciously. What happens in both these cases and the connection between these two tracks is what we see in Nishad Ebrahim’s Amala.
Trying to understand the psyche of a psycho-killer is a quintessential part of any content with them as a main character. Here also, we can see the director trying to show us why our antagonist became this monster. But unfortunately, the making lacks that element of craft one would wish to see in the narrative, and everything falls pretty flat due to the underwhelming writing. When you hear the dialogues by the police officers during their investigation, it feels far too outdated, and Malayalam cinema has moved on from that kind of fakely cool investigating style.
Appani Sarath, the antagonist of the film, is struggling in this movie. The character’s development is mainly happening through dialogues, and the lack of flair in the writing also affects the performance. As the deaf girl with no makeup, Anarkali Marikar was perhaps the only performer whose performance managed to elevate the dull script. Srikanth, as the seemingly intelligent ACP, is a bit difficult to tolerate as we can only register that character as a showoff guy. Child actor Vaishnav who played the childhood of antagonist was fine. Nandhini Sree, Bitto Davis, Sajitha Madathil, etc., are the other names in the star cast.
The writing is very much basic, and you just don’t see any nuanced representations of character behavior in the film. The things characters do when they panic don’t really give us any tension, and the overall poor production quality contributes to the amateurish end result of many sequences. In that survival thriller-like mode of the film, you will find yourself waiting for the drill to end out of boredom rather than anxiety. The techniques they have used for jump scares and tension-building are highly guessable.
Just when you get the impression that this tale of predictable punches has ended, the makers announce the possibility of a sequel with Rajisha Vijayan and Shine Tom Chacko. As a one-liner concept, the movie title has the scope to have many sequels. But with this level of writing and production quality, that sequel announcement was the only disturbing part of Amala.
As a one-liner concept, the movie title has the scope to have many sequels. But with this level of writing and production quality, that sequel announcement was the only disturbing part of Amala.
Signal
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended