Adam Joan movie review: This Prithviraj film looks good but is insipid

Adam Joan starring Prithviraj, Bhavna and Narein is one good looking movie. Shot mostly in Scotland, the film uses black and grey dominantly, to the point that we are dying to see some colours on screen. Nevertheless, Jithu Damodar’s cinematography looks beautiful on screen. However, it is unfortunate that the story isn’t strong enough to match the visuals on screen.

Adam Joan meets Amy and falls in love with her. After their marriage, they move to Scotland. Amy dies during childbirth and Adam leaves the newborn with his mother, brother and his sister-in-law. The girl gets kidnapped just before Adam makes a trip to his brother’s place after which he sets out to rescue his kidnapped daughter. The story line vaguely reminds one of Liam Neelson’s Taken. But unlike Taken, the transformation of a wealthy planter into a self-appointed sleuth here is a bit too drastic for logic.

Shot mostly in churches, graveyards or palatial houses, the story’s weakest link is its drift into Satanism and Judaism. This year seems to be Prithvi’s year for thrillers laced with religion (This is the second movie after Ezra). But Adam Joan feels as if the movie is running at 0.75x. A slow screenplay peppered with too many slow motions heavily dampens the pace of the movie. The only thing that maintains a shred of the suspense, is the music. The background score, including the main theme, has heavy influences from the gospel school of music. The score is aptly eerie and chilling and mixes beautifully well with the sombre shots on the screen.

The movie does have a few good moments too. There is poetic justice when the villain gets stabbed with Satan’s star symbol; or irony in Prithvi’s return to his family — a death drives him away and another one greets him on his return. But these moments are far and few in between and doesn’t do enough to save the movie. For most of the time, the character and their exchanges appear cold and indifferent.

In a nutshell, if you are looking to watch a movie this Onam, you can give this a miss.

This was first originally published on https://indianexpress.com/. You can find it here.