Turbo movie review: Mammootty and Raj B Shetty's film is 'cliche', and we cannot agree more

Director: Vysakh

Cast: Mammootty, Raj B Shetty, Sunil, Anjana Jayaprakash

Turbo starring Mammootty and Raj B Shetty is a missed opportunity. To have two brilliant performers sharing screenspace, there was so much more that this action film could have done, but in the end, it was just an endless recycling of plot devices and story arcs that are cliche. Interestingly, writer Midhun Manuel Thomas seems to be self aware, because his lead characters reflect the very thoughts that an audience member would have. Be it Raj’s character Vetrivel yelling about cliched escapes, or Mammootty ’s character Jose crying out in frustration, wondering if there was no end to the incoming onslaught of thugs thirsting for his blood – it is quite in keeping with the exasperation that we feel as a viewer.

A major pain point for me in this film was the fact that the meeting between Jose and Vetrivel was delayed beyond reason. There was also no suspense, or tension whatsoever to build up this clash. Sure, there was a slight tension and drama in the scene where the two come face to face in a police station, but it was no palpable. What this scene needed was drama, and that was just not written in the screenplay to be translated. The background score does attempt to gloss over this lack of tension, but there is definitely a visible void in this scene.

Ironically enough, the film is pretty clean. In the sense, the set-up of an underground syndicate that scams banks by using dormant accounts to stash black money is intriguing. The first act of the film did a decent job of establishing the key characters and the storyline. Very soon though, the water gets pretty murky and the entire arc gets convoluted. Why did Jose have to get involved with Indu? It would have been pretty interesting to see him end up in Chennai as Jerry’s friend, and instead adding layers to his involvement with Vetrivel. Jose and Jerry’s friendship doesn’t receive any attention, or justifiable screen time, so how is one to empathise with Jose’s loss? In fact, Jerry comes across as an irresponsible walking-talking red flag who deserves no empathy.

Attention to such details, would have served Turbo better, and could have even elevated the film from being just another cliched action entertainer. Alas, it is what it is. Now, the makers seem intent on following Turbo up with a sequel from Epilogue, and I for one, am not looking forward to it.

Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)

Priyanka Sundar is a film journalist who covers films and series of different languages with a special focus on identity and gender politics.