Mammootty shines as an ethical hacker, but Deeno Dennis’ experimental thriller, set in Kochi, stumbles with a weak plot, patchy execution, and too much flash over substance
The dictionary defines the word ‘bazooka’ as a recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher or a ‘stovepipe’, something Sylvester Stallone made popular through his Rambo series of films. There are a couple of machine gun-rattling scenes in Mammootty’s much-anticipated Bazooka, even if the weapon itself is conspicuous by its absence. In short, bazooka refers to a gamer-developed video game in Bazooka.
When it comes to novelty, Bazooka may rival Hollywood films, but it is executed so poorly that Mammootty’s trust in debutant directors may need some reconsideration. Of course, there are beautifully-crafted shots of Kochi, along with the storied London Bridge in the city — a vertical bridge constructed under the supervision of Robert Bristow as far back as 1943 — at a time the New Pamban Bridge is being touted as “India’s first vertical bridge”.
An experimental fare without finesse
Bazooka is helmed by Deeno Dennis, son of veteran scriptwriter Kaloor Dennis, who collaborated with Mammootty during his ‘petty-kutty’ phase in the mid-‘80s. The visual aesthetics aside, Bazooka is badly executed, catering mostly to die-hard Mammootty fans. There are slow-motion walks, cool outfits and accessories along with vintage cars, reminiscent of Bheeshmaparvam, with Mammootty very much at the centre of it — even if the story unfolds in present-day Kochi.
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Bazooka is about a gamer, Antony John (Mammootty an ethical hacker and entrepreneur) making a series of “high-risk, low-value” thefts, playing on the ego of a decorated police officer, depicted by a wooden Gautham Vasudev Menon. The motive for the whole exercise comes across as flimsy, just as Deeno’s screenplay for the film. Despite making a visual spectacle of each heist, Bazooka would eventually remind you of Mammootty’s ‘I, Me, Myself’ film promotion events, where he would hog the show, leaving little for others to speak.
Saeed Abbas’s background music is probably what holds Bazooka together, along with the cinematography by Nimish Ravi and Roby Varghese Raj, despite too many jump cuts to tide over the lags. Bazooka is very much an experimental film, but one that lacks the finesse of Mammootty’s recent such outings.
A gamer’s idea of a film
The plot twist in the second half is probably the high point of the film even if Mammootty’s eccentric transformation towards the end was a tad bit crazy, even for today’s adventurous audiences. Heck, Bazooka feels like an excuse for Mammootty to embark on an ego trip and flaunt his ‘anti-ageing looks’ so coveted by the audience. And the Mega Star comes across as unconvincing in the action scenes with a Shahenshah-like interval sequence, dodging hundreds of bullets fired off machine guns with merely an iron table for cover.
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Bazooka is probably a gamer’s concept of a film, where the film and the game overlaps so much that the narrative gets lost in the din. It is Mammootty’s version of Mohanlal’s Aaraattu, a title which later became synonymous with a man (Santhosh Varkey) who lurks around a multiplex in Edappally, going on to make an appearance in the film, to everyone’s horror.
Gautham Vasudev Menon goes through the whole film with a stock expression, while the likes of Divya Pillai are left with nothing much to do. Writers these days seem to conceive films through visuals, although they seem to forget that it would work only if the movie is bound by a tight-knit narrative. Bazooka may click with hardcore Mammootty fans, but it may not work for everyone else.
