12th man

Following the lines of some classic murder mysteries, Jeethu Joseph pens up a whodunit thriller which keeps you glued to the screen till the last scene. Despite having a shoddy first half and some cliche dialogues, 12th man shift its gear post 45 minutes into the film. But the intense mood created through out this first 45 minutes, makes us think there is something exciting on the line in the film. Mohanlal plays a character which he could finally find some sort of relief in after some pathetic box office display which he had in recent times. One thing which makes Jeethu stand out from his counterparts is the perfection of his script and his brilliance in story telling

The lead 11 actors reminds us of the setup which was used in the film '12 angry men'. Somewhere here and there you could also find a reminiscence of famous Agathe Christy works where the shadow of crime is drawn into everyone in the setup. You could not see any underwhelming or overwhelming performances among the lead 11. Apparently film has a long second half which is not boring at all and it is also interesting to see how all the elements were unveiled without creating much chaos.

The are significant aspects in the film such as the colour tone, bgm and the transitions which were used that gives us a mystic feel altogether. The single location second half combined with some flashback sequences is single handedly carried by Mohanlal with some level of charsma. There is nothing new in terms of film making and sometimes it even feels like you are watching a serial ( I felt it in Drishyam 2 too), but the script stands tall to negate all the cons over here.

In overall, 12th man is a compelling thriller which should ideally never disappoint you,  and Jithu Joseph - Mohanlal combo still find ways to amuse the filmgoer in you.