Bazooka movie review: Mammootty’s effortless suave and talent is wasted on this poorly written film

What is Bazoooka about

Kochi is ravaged by crime, and in comes the hotshot ACP Benjamin Joshua (Gautham Vasudev Menon), who is ready to clean up the city. But then there is a twist. One particular crook uses video games to commit crimes and outwits ACP Joshua and his men every step of the way, and the team can’t figure out how this is possible. The ACP decides to bring in former forensic expert John Caesar (Mammootty) to help them decipher the clues this gamer is giving tem. All this is narrated through conversations between Caesar and his annoying neighbour, a gamer called Hakkim Shah (Sunny Varghese). So, does Caesar finally help the cops nab this gamer who’s an uber-criminal mastermind?

Bazooka, which literally means a long tube-shaped gun held on the shoulder and used to fire rockets, is filled with mind games between the cops, the gamer (who goes by Mr Mario) and Caesar, and bafflingly, the video games one expected the director to hook us with are not high-tech ones but children’s games like Super Mario, Snakes and Ladders, and Temple Run. This is then amped up with numerous action sequences throughout the film to showcase Mammootty’s swag and suaveness. But does the film really have a strong story that makes it a compelling and thrilling watch when the entire mystery unravels? The answer is no.

Where Bazooka fails

Writer and director Deeno Dennis clearly wanted to make a visually slick film based on a new premise where he could show a fashionable and stylish Mammukka, whom he seems to revere, in an extremely appealing way to his fans. He has added plenty of slo-mo and close-up shots and scenes to elevate Mammukka, but while doing all this, he has missed the real plot of the story. Case in point – the police investigation has numerous loopholes, and logic flies out the window, with some of the dialogues not helping either.

Along with such inane lines, there is thunderous, uplifting BGM by music director Saeed Abbas, who’s also added a foot-tapping rap song called Loading Bazooka by actor-singer Sreenath Bhasi to liven up the proceedings. Cinematographer Nimish Ravi has ensured that Mammootty comes alive on screen and stands tall in every frame, while editors Nishadh Yusuf and Praveen Prabhakar do justice as best as they can to the film given its shortcomings.

A gaming world-driven thriller is a new genre for the audience, and Dennis squanders the opportunity by not really delving into how such heist gangs work in the real world and giving Mammootty, the star, a role and film to be proudly associated with. By the film’s end, the audience is playing the game of ‘why Mammootty signed on this film’ when it doesn’t do the actor in him – and the star he is – justice in any way. Bazooka is watchable only for Mammootty, but even he can’t save this film.