C.I.A - "Border-line Average Romantic Adventure Sans Much Substance"

[AfsalTouchriver]

C.I.A - Comrade In America - " A Border-line Average Romantic Adventure Sans Much Substance "
Rating - 2.5/5
Detailed Analysis
______________
Eventhough the promotion works from the makers of "CIA" were really pathetic,the two big names associated with the film,Amal Neerad and Dulquer Salmaan was enough and more to ensure that the movie gets a pretty decent release despite the strong holding of Baahubali in cinemas worldwide.Nothing much was known about the content of the movie and I was pretty excited to know what's in store,the prime reason why I opted to catch the initial show of the movie on the day of its release.

For the fans of Amal Neerad,CIA isn't a typical style and gloss entertainer that one expects from Amal Neerad and his trademark style narration is limited here to a couple of slow-motion walks and an impressive introduction sequence of the hero which was more or less a direct rip-off of the music video 'No Church In The Wild' by the duo of American artists Kanye West and Jay Z.

Ironically,the lovestory that makes the backdrop of the movie was terribly cliched and amateurishly presented,and the half-baked writing on this most crucial part of the storyline made 'CIA' look like an overdrawn adventure with the course of the narration.This basic plot of romance that act as the sole reason behind the risky journey that the hero embark upon wasn't established well as to sympathize at the agony of the protagonist towards the second half.

On the contrary,the satirical part in the first half was handled well by writer Shibin Francis and he succeeded in generating laughs by presenting quiet a few recent political issues in a light-hearted manner.The heart chemistry between the father-son duo played by Dulquer Salmaan and Siddhique combined with the generous dialogue humor from the trio of DQ,Dileesh Pothen and Soubin Shahir ensued that the first half is a pretty engaging one indeed .

It was the second half of the movie where the hollowness of the script became evident with the movie failing to keep the viewers engaged after being affected badly by inherent lags and presence of sketchy companions to the protagonist who failed to evoke required emotions considering the risk involved in the course of their journey and the gravity of the situation they are caught-in.

Personally,I loved the way communist ideologies were inculcated as a medium of narrative rather than going deep into the dirty politics that we get to see these days in detail.The self-realization part was presented rather well and how the political ideologies influence our protagonist was convincingly presented,a good thing about this strictly average movie.

The incredible charisma and screen-presence of Dulquer Salman acted as a backbone for the movie and the talented actor ensured that the character Aji Mathew is safe in his hands eventhough there wasn't anything challenging to portray as such.Debutant Karthika Muraleedharan as the lead failed to pull off an impressive act due to the underdeveloped nature of her character.Siddhique gave a top notch act playing father to protagonist Aji Mathew.Soubin and Dileesh Pothen were good.John Vijay played his part well.Chandini Sreedharan's character was half-baked nad nothing much to praise.

The background score of the movie by Gopi Sunder was brilliant and played an important role in elevating the intensity of the narrative at different instances of the storyline.The action choreography,eventhough handled by prominent names like Mark Chavarria wasn't anything exceptional to be noted.Cinematograpahy by Amal's long-time assistant Renadive was good.Edits by Praveen Prabhakar were fine.

Overall, CIA is a strictly average flick with a good first half and a passable second half.

Notable Positives
____________________
#Above Average First Half #Thrilling Music Score #DQ

Weak Links
__________
#Mediocre & Slow-Paced Second Half #Weak Screenplay #Half-Baked Romantic Plot

Final Verdict::Comrade In America is a watchable romantic adventure,provided you don't expect much depth or wonders from the storyline!
_Afsal

Show & Movie Details
_________________
Language - Malayalam
CBFC Rating - U
Starring - Dulquer Salmaan,Karthika Muraleedharan,Soubin Shahir,Siddhique etc
Running Time - 134 Minutes
Theatre::Apsara Cinemas,Calicut
Date:05/05/17
Showtime::09:40 AM
Status::HouseFull
__________________________________________________ ______________________________________
Like https://www.facebook.com/TouchRiverMovieReviews For More Reviews
(c) AfsalTouchRiverReviews2017

[ikkafan]

Nthaa oru review .kodum kodumpiri kumbidi mass

Sent from my Lenovo A6000 using Tapatalk

[Cinema Freaken]

Thanks Bhai...!!

[renjuus]

thanks for the review...

[Saathan]

thanks afsal

[ClubAns]

Thanks for the Review.........