Mark movie review: Kiccha Sudeep’s one-man army Mark is no match for Max

Mark movie review: Kiccha Sudeep reunites with Max maker Vijay Kartikeyaa in yet another action-packed thriller that's been tailored to satiate fans, supposedly. But does it?

Kiccha Sudeep in and as Mark

Mark movie story: Suspended SP Ajay Markandaya (Kiccha Sudeep)’s chance to reverse his suspension and oust the politician responsible, Adikeshava (Shine Tom Chacko), rests on recovering incriminating video evidence against the latter, which, as it turns out, is on a mobile phone that a young child was playing with before being kidnapped. Time is of the essence, and Mark has to figure out, who nabbed the kid and a bunch of others, why, and where they’ve been stashed before it’s too late.

Mark movie review: When the movie hall is at less than half the capacity; audiences squirm in their seats impatiently and turn to their mobile phones – not to record scenes and post on social media – and there is a stunned silence at the end of an early morning show of a star film, the writing is clearly on the wall – this is not what they were hoping to celebrate over the festive holiday. Exactly a year on the dot since Max came out, Kiccha Sudeep presents another cop thriller with Max director Vijay Kartikeyaa, which should, ideally, have been Max 2, but has been rebranded Mark, because another collaboration with producer Kalaippuli S Thanu is unlikely.

Yet again, Sudeep’s character Mark’s on suspension, for reasons best known to him and crooked politician Adikeshava (Shine Tom Chacko). Adikeshava is on the cusp of being sworn in as the next chief minister; something he’s wrangled for himself in dubious fashion. But standing in his way is Mark, who may get his hands on video evidence that is pretty damning for Adikeshava. Well, we all know who wins this race.

Is Kiccha Sudeep’s Mark set in the same cinematic universe as Max? Actor clarifies…

In his debut film, director Vijay had a decent story and presented a racy thriller in pretty engaging fashion. By his sophomore project, the filmmaker apparently figured out the pulse of Sudeep fans and tailored a script with what he thought would be exhilarating moments for them. In doing so, a cohesive story became an afterthought, and the filmmaker went about stuffing the film with inconsequential characters, whose only purpose is to allow Mark’s one-man bulldozer to mouth a few punch lines and beat everyone around to a pulp.

Though Mark has a team of loyal, but also suspended, officers on his team, not one gets anything substantial to do. Even when Mark is surrounded by a swarm of thugs with deadly weapons, they take turns to attack him and after a few get a pummelling, the rest run for their lives; that’s how invincible he is. So, then why does Mark need his cronies sticking around like flies? Well, beats me!

One of the issues that Sudeep pointed out about Max was that although there were villains, there wasn’t one formidable antagonist standing up against the character, which, he said was being fixed in Mark with Naveen Chandra’s Bhadra. Fat chance, there! Yogi Babu, Vikranth and Guru Somasundaram also remain ineffective. Naveen Chandra screams his lungs out, Vikranth runs around like a headless chicken, and Yogi’s dead pan humour is wasted in the Kannada dub. In his limited screen time, Guru manages to salvage his comical gangster character to some extent.

Also read: Mark actor Kiccha Sudeep clarifies his ‘ready for war’ comment

But that’s not all, this time around, Vijay also apparently remedied the lack of an emotional connect; so, he introduced a kidnapping angle, one of the victims being Mark’s house help’s young daughter, whose only shot in the same frame with him is when she is rescued. And yet, we are expected to believe that Mark is driven so passionately in this race against time to find her (and a bunch of others). Ajaneesh Loknath’s weird BGM every time the kids are shown isn’t really helpful here.

Mark movie verdict: Mark is just another movie in the Max template, albeit one that is not half as fun, entertaining or gripping. Vijay’s style-over-substance approach is a misfire. Despite massively tempered expectations, Mark was disappointing to say the least. The temptation is to suggest a rewatch of Max instead, but if all that you really care about is seeing nearly 2 and half hours of Kiccha looming large onscreen and nothing more, go check this out!

FAQs Mark the movie

Q. Where to watch Kiccha Sudeep's Mark?

A. Kiccha Sudeep's Mark released in theatres on December 25, 2025. Following the theatrical run, the film is heading to JioHotstar (via OTTplay Premium also).

Q. Who all are on the cast of Kiccha Sudeep's Mark?

A. The film also stars Yogi Babu, Guru Somasundaram, Shine Tom Chacko, Naveen Chandra, Vikranth, Pratap Narayan, Gopalkrishna Deshpande, Mahantesh Hiremath, Roshni Prakash, Archana Kottige and Deepshikha, among others.

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