Sometimes a film can be saved by a few late flourishes, even though it may have been going badly up until that point. However, that purported redemption arc in Deno Dennis’s directorial debut, Bazooka, goes much beyond the point at which the majority of us would have lost interest in the characters or the story. After a bland main dish that left you feeling nauseous, it almost seemed like a dessert. It turns out that the dessert is the same old thing underneath the dressing on top.
There is rarely a scene in Bazooka without a background score. A significant portion of this soundtrack is devoted to highlighting the superstar’s every arbitrary movement in a movie prepared specifically for his admirers. A significant portion of the movie is set at a bus stop, where we first meet John Caesar (Mammootty) waiting for a bus while reading a self-help book. However, when we first see ACP Benjamin Joshua (Gautham Vasudev Menon) exiting his car to perform a standard vehicle inspection, he also receives the same treatment. In a movie that relies heavily on its aesthetics, this is hardly shocking.
For the sole reason that characters play games—including one who plays loudly aboard a bus, much to the annoyance of the other passengers—it is disguised as a gaming thriller. Caesar, a forensic specialist on the bus, is attempting to assist law enforcement in identifying a criminal mastermind who gives them hints prior to each theft. His endless, haphazardly written chats with his inquisitive neighbor (Hakkim Shah), who is also the loud gamer, make up a large portion of this narrative.
