Patriot movie review: Mammootty, Mohanlal anchor this slick surveillance thriller that turns clunky in its telling

Patriot plot: Daniel James, a Defence Research Wing operative, is driven into exile after uncovering a surveillance conspiracy involving the defence minister and his son’s tech firm. But exile doesn’t stop his pursuit of the truth and it leads him to an even deadlier conspiracy, which will force him back to the country and could prove fatal for him and his aides.

Patriot review: Since his directorial debut with Take Off, filmmaker-editor Mahesh Narayanan has proved he has a keen instinct for sustaining tension, especially when the stakes are high. Be it Take Off, C U Soon or Ariyippu - each distinct in their filmmaking, his storytelling has consistently been anchored in solid, idea-driven material.

Patriot, starring Mammootty, Mohanlal, Fahadh Faasil and Kunchacko Boban, is no different. Strip away its star power, scale and globe-trotting locations, and what you get is a movie deeply invested in its central idea of the dangers of private players being allowed to exploit military-grade surveillance spyware for profit, with little regard for privacy or consequence.

From the outset through newspaper clips, the film makes it clear that its core idea is more or less inspired from the Pegasus scandal, which involved the misuse of military-grade spyware to covertly hack the mobile phones of activists, journalists and politicians. In Patriot, Defence Research Wing official Daniel James (Mammootty) uncovers a similar conspiracy involving the country’s defence minister (Rajiv Menon) and his son Shakti’s (Fahadh) tech firm for misusing a spyware named Periscope, developed for military use. Branded a traitor, Daniel is forced to flee the country. Even in exile, he uses YouTube to expose truths about surveillance in the digital world, only to stumble upon an even more dangerous plot linked to the people who drove him out.

Credit must go to Mahesh and team for conceiving a plot of this scale and executing it in Malayalam without diluting its core idea much to accommodate its star performers. Every penny spent on this big-budget film shows on screen and each actor contributes meaningfully to the narrative rather than merely serving fanfare. Mahesh, who has also written the film, goes the extra yard to explain about digital surveillance, from heating up of the phones, draining battery, remote access of laptop cameras to even tracking the use of government IDs. 

That commitment, however, also comes at a cost. In doing so, Patriot, occasionally, sacrifices its entertainment quotient, making it one of the rare Mahesh Narayanan films where the tension isn’t sustained consistently. The need to balance a dense idea-driven narrative with the presence of stars like Mammootty and Mohanlal seems to weigh on the film, especially in the second half. This results in certain stretches, such as Colonel Naik (Mohanlal) and Micheal (Kunchacko Boban) rescuing Daniel, that feel less gripping than intended. If the movie had a few clever twists up its sleeve, it could have made for a much more enjoyable and less predictable experience.

In one scene, there’s a nice touch where Mammootty and Mohanlal’s characters reflect on mortality, something you’d rarely find in a film of this scale in other industries. Patriot also benefits immensely from their analog charm in a digital world, proving that the industry can punch well above its weight when it has the story and the scale.

Manush Nandan’s cinematography deserves a special mention, as it elevates the overall quality of the movie, offering a glimpse of how far Malayalam cinema can push its visual aesthetic. Sushin Shyam’s music complements the film but there isn’t a particularly standout score. The edits are crisp, and the casting is more or less spot on. It’s refreshing to see most of the actors in new avatars, although Nayanthara remains underused and Fahadh is largely reduced to shouting at the top of his lungs in many scenes.

Patriot verdict: Mahesh Narayanan’s slick and ambitious surveillance thriller works due to a strong and timely idea, anchored by Mammootty and Mohanlal’s performances. Despite its solid craft, you would wish that the team had also made it a tad more entertaining.