Djibouti movie review: Amith Chakalakkal’s escape drama has its moments but is let down by lacklustre writing

2/5

Story: Idukki-based youngsters Louis and Aby wish to go abroad and earn big money, but with their limited skillsets, jobs that fit their lofty dreams are hard to come by. The duo, however, finds an opportunity when Hannah, an HR manager from a company based in Djibouti, Africa, comes to visit Kerala. Their friendship soon results in her taking the two to the African country. While romance between Louis and Hannah blooms, it also leads to a series of incidents that threaten the duo, who are soon forced on the run. Will they make it out safe?

Review: With Djibouti, Uppum Mulakum director SJ Sinu has attempted to mishmash two popular genres of buddy comedy and escape thriller, but with rather mediocre results. The movie, which has Amith Chakalakkal and Jacob Gregory in lead roles, is a tale of two halves set in two countries – India and Djibouti. But it almost seems like the portions set in India that shows the bond between the two buddies, Louis (Amith) and Aby (Gregory), and their dreams of getting a job abroad has been paid little attention by the makers is just a bloated filler leading up to story where they land in Djibouti.

The first half of the film almost evolves as an episode of a TV drama, not one as engaging as Uppum Mulakum. In fact, the predictability of the sequences combined by rather poor VFX, in a sunset sequence on top of a hill, robs the movie off the energy that it could have used. If the hill sequence was a device used to show the difference in the natural beauty between the two countries, it’s a huge misfire. It would be tempting to blame the recce them for this, but then the sequences in Djibouti almost serves as an advertisement for its tourism. But even that is not without problems. For instance, why would a trained driver venture off into sandy terrain in the middle of a high-speed chase.

While the scenes between Amith and Aby doesn’t evoke humour despite the script trying hard, the best part of the movie happens while they are in Djibouti. A particular action scene that happens in the company’s canteen has high energy and thumping. The team keeps this pace alive for most part of the second half, which almost makes you forget of the technical faults including a portion where the conversation between the characters isn’t properly audible due to the background noise.

The visuals in the second half too add fresh appeal to the film – be it the vibrant beaches, the mountainous terrains or the sea. While in the hands of a more experienced director and a better script, the movie could have explored its potential of being a thrilling escape drama. Here, the villain is rather one-dimensional as his intentions are never truly mined.

Amith and Gregory do their best to carry their roles but are restricted due to lacklustre writing. Dileesh Pothan is probably the standout performer, bringing some gravitas to the movie. Shagun Jaswal, who plays the African who can understand and speak a bit of Malayalam, does her part decently. But her character too lacks depth, just like the others. Another grouse is that most of the first half evolves without much music, thereby making the proceedings drab and never hooking the audience.

Verdict: SJ Sinu doesn’t quite succeed in making his feature film debut as engaging or entertaining as his small screen outings. This is partly due to a half-baked script with shallow characters. While the movie had a lot of potential to make use of the locations in a foreign and strange land, it squanders it by sticking to a tried-and-tested path.