Michael Review: Visually good, but lacks substance

Actor Sundeep Kishan’s latest movie, Michael, which has been making a lot of noise, has finally been released today. The trailer showed a lot of promise, and let’s see how the film has turned out to be.

Story:

Michael is a young boy raised by a gangster in Mumbai. Michael has one goal in life, towards which he is focused at all times. Michael also has a past that very few know about. What is the past and what is Michael’s goal in his life, form the rest of the story.

On-Screen Performances:

Sundeep Kishan is good in his part, with his action sequences especially standing out. Without doubt, the actor has given his best performance to date in Michael, and has reinvented himself thoroughly with Michael. Despite his very honest and no holds barred performance, Michael doesn’t seem to have the substance to give him his much-needed break.

Gautham Vasudev Menon gets a meaty role in the film. With the kind of scope and importance that his character has, one would expect a lot of gravitas to be added by his character, but Gautham falls very short of that. His character lacks the impact because of his underwhelming performance. Gautham is surely a huge miscast in the film. Vijay Sethupathi and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar are grossly underused by the director, and are only seen for a brief period in the film.

Leading lady Divyansha Kaushik got a good role but she couldn’t make much of an impact.. Varun Sandesh’s role in the film was hyped up prior to the film’s release, but there’s not a lot that his character offers except for the pre interval episode, and he has done his part right..Anasuya Bharadwaj doesn’t get anything new to do in the film and is given a role that is very similar to the one she has been seen in previously.

Off-Screen Talents:

Director Ranjith has come up with a weak story line and many a times, one would get the feeling of watching KGF film franchise, especially when Guru’s main henchman narrates the story of Michael. With the exception of the last 30 minutes of the film, the rest of the film drags on, and is very slow at its pacing. The director also grossly underused actors like Vijay Sethupathi and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, while he overused Gautham Menon, who gave a very stone faced performance, which is a major drawback. The director should have put in more effort into the core element – story, than stylizing the film. The movie also doesn’t have a lot of entertaining parts, which might not sit well with regular audiences. The film has a very dark tone, which would only appeal to audiences that are into such kind of movies.

The cinematography of the film is top notch, and gives a very stylish look to the entire setup. The background music needs special mention, especially in the later half of the movie.

The production design of the film is good, but the editing could have been better, with a lot of scenes cut short, and the pacing improvised.

Plus Points:

• Sundeep Kishan’s performance
• BGM
• Visually pleasing/Stylish

Minus Points:

• Lack of interesting story line
• Gautham Menon’s performance
• Slow paced narration
• No emotional connect

Verdict: Michael is a movie that had a lot of scope if focused more on story line and emotions than other crafts of the film. It is a movie that caters only to those who are into dark themed gangster films. While the second half of the movie is little bit better than first half in terms of story and pacing, it still falls short of worthy watch. Sadly, Sundeep kishan might have to wait until his next movie to taste success..

Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2.25/5