'Christopher' review: Mammootty's vigilante cop drama plays to the gallery

Of late, my pre-release routine for Mammootty films is to strictly skip the promotions, where the superstar routinely speaks out of turn, which also quickly becomes a soliloquy. And, when the movie is helmed and scripted by the B Unnikrishnan-Udayakrishna duo, whose previous outing together was the gross but successful Aaraattu (2022) with Mohanlal, you go to the screening with zero expectations.

However, unlike Aaraattu and Udayakrishna’s more recent Monster (2022), Christopher is thankfully devoid of misogyny and double-entendre-laden dialogues.

The film may even appear to be an act of contrition by the duo to endorse the changed sensibilities of the audience, but in reality, it is necessitated by the setting of the plot. Playing to the gallery is the first impression that captures you, while watching the film and even when the end credits roll, that’s the exact impression that stays with you.

Vigilantism is valourised by sermons on the inefficiency and corruption prevalent in the ‘system’, and there is a convenient back story to make sense of the making of the titular character, Christopher, essayed by Mammootty.

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Christopher is an out-and-out commercial film and has enough ingredients to keep the cash registers ringing. Mammootty plays the vigilante cop, who dispels justice with the barrel of a gun by staying very much within the ‘system’. Christopher’s targets are generally those inflicting brutalities on women and, the wicked ones have a way of coming into his radar, with his ‘reputation’ as a dispenser of instant justice.

Mammootty sports grey hair streaks for the most part but he makes sure that there are scenes where he plays his younger version. Ironically to me, though, Mammootty looked younger with the grey streaks than the jet-black hair and moustache combination on screen. Christopher is pretty much a Mammootty show all the way, with Vinay Rai’s antagonist and Amala Paul’s senior cop among others getting due prominence. Sneha, in her comeback, is paired with Mammootty.

As for the story, there isn’t any suspense but still, there is enough to keep the story moving forward till the eventual face-off with the antagonist. Vinay Rai, in his debut in Malayalam, plays the nemesis in style, and you wish the cat-and-mouse game had begun sooner with a bit of intrigue building up to keep the audience on tenterhooks.

Perhaps, the Unnikrishnan-Udayakrishna duo thought it better to pack the film with punchy dialogues and tap into Mammootty’s superstardom than sharpen the script.

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Christopher is an average watch although I assume it would be more appealing to Mammootty’s diehard fans, especially with the kind of attention given to the superstar’s styling and detailing.

Udayakrishna’s prolificacy needs no recounting and Unnikrishnan’s filmmaking is fairly predictable by now. Faiz Siddik’s cinematography works and so does Justin Varghese’s background score, despite a familiar ring to it.

As for the performances, Mammootty is in his element. Christopher is way better than many of the superstar’s forgettable outings in the past decade. Amala Paul is impressive as always and gets into the skin of the cop. Aishwarya Lekshmi is wasted in a miniscule part and Sarath Kumar puts in a special appearance. Vinay Rai delivers a great performance and the support cast is adequate, with nothing much to complain about.

A small reference to Shine Tom Chacko’s character would reiterate the ‘playing to the gallery’ comment that effectively sums up the film. Chacko is seen mimicking his quirky real-life persona on screen as the corrupt cop, with not-so-subtle references to substance abuse. Go for it, if you don’t mind predictable stuff.