12th Man Movie Review

When Jeethu Joseph tried to be James Hadley Chase, the results looked favorable, but when he attempts to become an Agatha Christie, the result is ‘12th Man’. Well, such citations might puzzle you completely, but as you sneak into the world of this movie, you’ll realize what we actually meant, especially if you’ve already watched Drishyam franchise. Of course, Jeethu himself clearly affirmed that 12th Man will be no similar to Drishyam films, and it’s completely different from what he had done earlier.

The movie opens with 11 childhood friends gathering for a special occasion that has several significances. One among them is the happily married couple, who are expecting a baby soon. Well, as they prepare for a grand party at a luxurious resort located amidst the misty mountains, they have a funny intruder Chandrashekar (Mohanlal), DYSP under suspension, who is drunk all the time, and is ruining their happy moments. Things takes a turn when one among the friends is found dead, and Chandrashekar opens up the investigation.

The entire story happens over a night time, and in a single location, which almost gives an impression of watching Indianized Agatha Christie movies. To make it more precise, the avid fans of ‘Murder On The Orient Express’ and the latest one in league ‘Death on the Nile’ may easily connect with 12th Man.

Yes, as the famous proverb goes, everyone is a hero in their story, and it is very well endorsed by this movie. The story written by Sunir is appreciable, but the actual problem shows up with the too stretched out screenplay. With the entire story set in a single place, we are pushed to boredom after a certain extent for the conversational domination. If the duration was tweaked, then, it could have added more intensity and engrossing moments.

The editing deserves special mention for handling this entire movie with so much of scrutinizing efforts. The performances are good, but the scope of actors are limited.

As on whole, 12th Man might have been an interesting novel to read, but as a film, it starts on a engaging note, and later shifts into sluggish phase.