Christopher Malayalam Movie
In director B Unnikrishnan's new film, Christopher, Mammootty plays a vigilante cop who kills rape case suspects in police encounters. Mammootty's Christopher is judge, jury, and executioner for men who rape women and take their lives casually. In one scene, he proclaims, "Justice delayed is justice denied."
Mammootty's character is like the Godfather in terms of how people approach him for so-called justice. People who seek it approach him, and Christopher gets to work. The character has a backstory that explains why he becomes a killing machine. Writer Udayakrishna makes almost every other character in law enforcement and public office someone who at least quietly appreciates Christopher. And, as with most commercial films about vigilantism, one takes law into their hands mainly because of the folly of the system. These are all elements of the script that try to justify Christopher's deeds.
Besides, it is not like the high number of fake encounter killings is reducing repeat occurrences of crime. Judging by the number of bodies that pile up in Christopher, one can only assume that it is making things worse. In one fake encounter, a youngster tells a cop about an incident of rape, and the latter instantly believes him and subsequently shoots the suspects down like ninepins.
Every killing of Christopher presumably means a failure in delivering equal justice to all and is only making the public further lose faith in the law. A police encounter is not a good thing because it only proves the failure of the judicial system to deliver its duties. The movie does not seem to recognise this and plays into public sentiments instead. Be that as it may, every filmmaker has the right to tell a story any way they want to. I am all for films that celebrate mass vigilantism, but Christopher is not a good advertisement for it.
The movie is also unintentionally comical at some points. For instance, a person who is being burned alive just vanishes into thin air like a Diwali sparkler. Christopher visits a burn victim at a hospital and casually tells her, "You will be alright." Some of the encounters take place in public places and in broad daylight.
The only redeeming qualities of the film are some of the camera work, the background music, and the performances. Mammootty delivers a credible performance, even for a character as one-note as Christopher. Vinay Rai is stylish and super cool as the antagonist. There is a spark in some of their scenes together. The female characters get the underwritten parts, but Aishwarya Lekshmi and Amala Paul stand out. You can guess the fate of some of the female characters in the film from a mile away.
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