Kannur Squad

A proper police procedural commercialized for the Malayalam audience in a way that it's still realistic enough in parts but also gives moments of mass celebration for the Mammootty fans. The character Mammooty plays is nothing like the glorified cop roles he has done in the past and is very down to earth but the film takes its moments to break that magic to showcase the superstar which the audience seems to love. Mammootty actually looks pretty great and does it pretty well in such action scenes that are designed to get the mass response in theatres. Being based on a true story, there must have been some liberties taken here. But if it showed the story to be a bit more gray it would've been great. The way the crime is depicted, the revisits to it, seems to be quite insensitive, just for the sake of making the villains look more evil.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience but not as great as the fans claim it to be.

When Rorschach became a super hit, I was gladly surprised that such a style of film was working for the Malayali audience even though Mammootty was there as an incentive. But the amount of overpraise that film got and the way this is becoming such a big success, it feels like Mammootty just have to show up with something decent with enough moments for the fans to celebrate and they will make it a huge success.