L2: Empuraan is an ambitious sequel that is bigger, bolder and timid in equal measure, observes Arjun Menon.
L2: Empuraan, the most anticipated Malayalam release of the year, is one of the most ambitious tentpole films to have come out of Indian cinema in a long time.
Empuraan continues where the 2018 blockbuster Lucifer left off, giving us a glimpse into the hidden world of secret drug wars and international crime cartels lead by the infamous Ab'raam Khureshi, played wonderfully by Mohanlal.
The film starts off with a covert military mission gone wrong in Qaraqosh, the 'ghost town' on the fringes of post war torn down Iraq.
We then cut to the communal violence that took place in Gujarat in 2001.
Murali Gopi clearly has a lot of ground to cover and is in a hurry to set up the world of his ambitious sequel.
The events escalate and alternate across different countries and continents with breakneck speed as we are left to play catchup with the high stakes drug wars and geopolitical intrigue.
Empuraan is ultimately the story of two orphans, Ab'raam Khureshi and Zayed Masood (Prithviraj Sukumaran), who have to fend against a cruel world that took away their families.
The relationship between these two men, of the 'crime lord' and his 'trusted lieutenant', is the emotional core of the film.
It is fascinating to introduce your secondary lead as just a side player in the first instalment, only to expand on his backstory in the second part.
Prithviraj, who had an extended cameo in Lucifer, is given more dimensionality that defines his suppressed efficiency as a hitman.
The major part of the second hour of Empuraan follows Zayed Masood's vengeance and his traumatic past that made him the stoic, ruthless kill machine ready to defend Ab'raam Khureshi against any danger.
The film also tracks the newfound anarchy in the hero's hometown of Nedumpally, where political developments have resulted in the right wing party taking over the reigns of the ruling IUF, led by Jathin Ramdas (Tovino Thomas) and his initially dormant sister Priyadarshini Ramdas (Manju Warrier). The impending political unrest looks ready to implode Kerala's social landscape.
Subtlety is not something that Murali Gopi and Prithviraj indulges in and we get this through the antagonist Bajrangi (Abhimanyu Singh).
Empuraan moves at a breakneck pace and you never feel the weight of the information being passed down. For instance, the screenplay guides us to Ab'raam through the quick truth-seeking whistle blower Govardhan (Indrajith Sukumaran) who seems to know Stephen Nedumpally's secret identity.
All these streams of narrative backlog is stewarded by Prithviraj and his technical team, who seamlessly jump between tonalities and genre shifts with a sense of unbridled imagination.
Empuraan is slightly weighed down by the scope of its own potential and Murali Gopi's overwrought maximalism gets in the way of a daring world building.
There is a beautiful old timely synergy in the way his words find its perfect counterpart with the considered, stayed filmmaking approach by Prithviraj Sukumaran.
This is a busy world and we get action set pieces unfurling over the same timelines intercut with dialogue scenes taking place elsewhere.
Prithviraj is in total control of this high wire act of a screenplay that tries too many things at once.
The archetypes are all there for the pickings and Prithviraj steers away from wasted moments by smartly swooping in and out of the narrative.
Empuraan gets the world building right and is swinging big with its ideas and set piece construction. But this time, the non-linear design of certain action scenes seem more laboured than those in Lucifer.
We see many films trying to capture high octane action and Hollywood inspired gunplay and explosion sequences but Empuraan gets the scale just right with enough panache to stand out as a piece of action cinema.
Prithviraj shoots the hell out of the action sequences and is crisp in his edit that ensures that scenes run into each other as opposed to collide, considering the density of the script.
Sujith Vaasudev has clearly upped his game from the original.
Cinematically speaking, few Malayalam films have really locked into a slick visual aesthetic that is both native and international in scape.
Mohanlal is in blazing form as both Stephen Nedumpally and Ab'raam Khureshi.
Rage is a less explored facet of the Mohanlal persona in his late period work and you can see Prithviraj diligently using closeups of his eyes in ways never captured before on screen.
There is always a tide of fury and untamable danger in his gait, a clear departure from the original film where he always seemed like in control.
He is, in fact, in control here as well but there is more urgency in his presence now.
Mohanlal delivers some of his best performances of recent times with his constantly sad, watery eyes that scream anger and resentment for the call of duty he is forced to take upon.
Prithviraj gets the meatier moments in the sequel and we slowly connect his arc with that of A'braam, two angels kicked out of heaven for the sins of others.
There are little nods, reference and dialogue hints to the first part but this film works perfectly as a standalone action film.
The film also integrates the fanboy motifs of the letter 'L' and the 'cicada' rings with more fervour than the original. There is more talk of the secret societies and the various nexus that runs the world's socio political order.
But the muddled political potshots hamper the visceral quality of the first part that made it a smash success. There are couple of climax cameos whose effectiveness can be gauged only if they make the third installment, where they will get the proper screen space.
Prithviraj and his team should be lauded for their conviction in going all out and experimenting with a franchise in an industry where such budgets and in-film universes are unheard of.
There is a clear thought that has gone into the shape and future of this world, where nothing is just what it seems.
Deepak Dev's rousing, orchestral score is the perfect match for the stately, epic filmmaking that treats each narrative with similar attention.
Having said that, more than the globe-throttling spectacle, preachy politics and international crime deals, I was blown away when Mohanlal emerges out of the forest wearing his black shirt and folds his mundu and signals the incoming mob of gangsters with his trademark hand signal.
The film never topped that movement for its sheer anticipation and payoff. Everything else seemed secondary and incidental in service of that one cinematic moment of pure satisfying image making.
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