Directed by K Madhu and written by S N Swamy, CBI 5: The Brain begins with CBI officer Balagopal (Renji Panicker) hosting a seminar for the new batch of IPS officers where he narrates an unusual but interesting murder mystery solved by the CBI team under the leadership of the brainy Sethurama Iyer (Mammootty).
The film begins with the state's home minister succumbing to a cardiac arrest on a flight from Delhi to Kochi. Although no foul play is established, two other people, including the minister's doctor and a journalist who suspects a link, are also found dead in mysterious circumstances. When former CBI officer Josemon is killed in an accident, the case is handed to the CBI after the police fail to nab the culprits.
When Mammootty marks his entrance on screen with the trademark CBI background score, I had goosebumps. Enter Mukesh as Chacko and as part of the investigation they bump into their old nemesis Sathyadas (Saikumar) taking you on a short nostalgia trip of the '90s. When they finally meet Vikram, (an ailing Jagathy Sreekumarshown as a retired CBI officer in a guest appearance) the CBI trio somehow feels complete.
By now, the makers have spent a good 30 minutes or more trying to establish the importance of its key characters and create some curiosity about the killings. But now what ? The chase leads to a set of useful and unimportant links which drag the film to another hour or so.
Frankly, I am tired, annoyed and want to fast forward to the mastermind, if there is one. The mastermind is only revealed in the last 15 minutes. But was it worth all the drama and chase ?
The movie boasts a bevy of stars-- Soubin Shahir, Dileesh Pothan, Sudev Nair, Kaniha, Ansiba Hassan, Sai Kumar, Anoop Menon, Renji Panicker, Mukesh, Asha Sharath, and Ramesh Pisharody. However, there are hardly any characters that are well-developed or have an arc. Shahir fails to exude the charisma and menace that his character of a psychopathic computer wizard demands, and instead ends up being loud and tedious, without an ounce of nuance. The talented Sudev Nair is wasted in the role of a cop who barely has anything to contribute to the proceedings, while Sai Kumar as DSP Sathyadas is just a pissed off cop brought in for old time's sake-there are a throwback sequences from earlier movies which have no bearing on the plot. Dileesh Pothan too has little to contribute.
CBI 5 does let Mammootty dominate every scene in which he is present, but it holds back enough to allow the actor's naturally towering presence to do its job. It is not as if Mammootty does anything new here, and the fact is, he falters with those oddly written English lines, but he is who he is, a giant who we have grown up loving, an actor who continues to imbue Iyer with dignity and gravitas, and ultimately, he is CBI 5's's saving grace.
The film begins with the state's home minister succumbing to a cardiac arrest on a flight from Delhi to Kochi. Although no foul play is established, two other people, including the minister's doctor and a journalist who suspects a link, are also found dead in mysterious circumstances. When former CBI officer Josemon is killed in an accident, the case is handed to the CBI after the police fail to nab the culprits.
When Mammootty marks his entrance on screen with the trademark CBI background score, I had goosebumps. Enter Mukesh as Chacko and as part of the investigation they bump into their old nemesis Sathyadas (Saikumar) taking you on a short nostalgia trip of the '90s. When they finally meet Vikram, (an ailing Jagathy Sreekumarshown as a retired CBI officer in a guest appearance) the CBI trio somehow feels complete.
By now, the makers have spent a good 30 minutes or more trying to establish the importance of its key characters and create some curiosity about the killings. But now what ? The chase leads to a set of useful and unimportant links which drag the film to another hour or so.
Frankly, I am tired, annoyed and want to fast forward to the mastermind, if there is one. The mastermind is only revealed in the last 15 minutes. But was it worth all the drama and chase ?
The movie boasts a bevy of stars-- Soubin Shahir, Dileesh Pothan, Sudev Nair, Kaniha, Ansiba Hassan, Sai Kumar, Anoop Menon, Renji Panicker, Mukesh, Asha Sharath, and Ramesh Pisharody. However, there are hardly any characters that are well-developed or have an arc. Shahir fails to exude the charisma and menace that his character of a psychopathic computer wizard demands, and instead ends up being loud and tedious, without an ounce of nuance. The talented Sudev Nair is wasted in the role of a cop who barely has anything to contribute to the proceedings, while Sai Kumar as DSP Sathyadas is just a pissed off cop brought in for old time's sake-there are a throwback sequences from earlier movies which have no bearing on the plot. Dileesh Pothan too has little to contribute.
CBI 5 does let Mammootty dominate every scene in which he is present, but it holds back enough to allow the actor's naturally towering presence to do its job. It is not as if Mammootty does anything new here, and the fact is, he falters with those oddly written English lines, but he is who he is, a giant who we have grown up loving, an actor who continues to imbue Iyer with dignity and gravitas, and ultimately, he is CBI 5's's saving grace.
