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The buzz around Hanif Adeni’s Malayalam film Marco, starring Unni Mukundan in the lead role, is reminiscent of a bygone era when cinema enthralled people and elicited extreme reactions. One caption reads, “A woman took my shirt off,” while another reads, “This is not for the faint of heart.” Just like when The Exorcist (1973) made people faint, vomit, or leave the show mid-show. Good old times! (Also Read: Fans surprised to see Marco actor Unni Mukundan speaking fluent Gujarati: ‘Brother is changing languages like Netflix feature’)
And, of course, Marco’s announcement of Kill, Animal or Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire as the most violent Indian film came soon after. The censor board asked the film’s team to censor or reduce certain scenes, reinforcing the impression that it was venturing into uncharted territory. Gore fans were excited, but is the movie really that good? The answer is both yes and no.
Marco pushes the boundaries of violence
Commercial cinema has increased the amount of violence year after year, treading a fine line between extreme entertainment and sadistic satisfaction. Except for moral policing, Asians and Americans have done this for years, so we’re just catching up. But no matter how many heads or arms you’ve seen heroes chop off, nothing prepares you for Marco.
The film begins as usual: a violent gangster is on a rampage to avenge the death of a loved one and is trying his best to save what he has left. In one scene, Marco is described as a pitbull, a dog with a bone to pick. Everything from acid and gas cylinders to chainsaws are used as weapons of destruction, but there’s an unsettling feeling that you’ve seen it all before. And there is some literal backstabbing and power play before the Peace Day Resistance arrives.
The way the scene where the stone is inserted into your stomach is shot makes it seem more shocking than anything else. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that the number of bodies per minute becomes higher, and a house is literally soaked in blood (perhaps a nod to Stephen King). No one is spared, regardless of gender or age. This scene is the cause of the aforementioned vomiting or fainting in theaters. Marco has undoubtedly taken the gore up a notch in Indian cinema, no matter how you feel about it.
But, keeping the nausea levels up, Marco has little to offer in terms of emotional weight, logic or smart writing. The performance and technical prowess make up for it. Asian cinema models itself after Marco (The Vengeance Trilogy (2002-2005), I Saw the Devil (2010)), making you believe that every piece of blood-soaked brain or decapitated head you see on screen. Let’s see he’s there for a reason. Even better, it makes you completely root for the hero, and gives you a reason to savor the coda.
Marco is surrounded by love, yet when he loses it you can hardly feel anything of it. His loyalty to his family is admirable, but his backstory needs more work.
Why Kill remains undefeated
While Marco (both the character and the film) made some non-smart choices, Nikhil Nagesh Bhatt’s Lakshya and the Raghav Juyal-starrer Kill (2024) flourished. For one, the film makes it easy to root for Lakshya’s protagonist, an army officer, but Raghava’s performance also helps you form a love-hate relationship with the modern-day dacoit he plays. The limited setting – a train – ensures that it’s hard to divert your attention from the gore and fate of the characters during the runtime. Again, everything from a fire extinguisher to a lighter is used as a weapon, but unlike Marco, Kill approaches violence more carefully.
In fact, at one point in Kill you become so distracted by Lakshya’s emotional turmoil and Raghav’s increasing madness that the splatter of blood on the screen begins to seem like an afterthought to you. You want the target to kill these people, maybe even in the most painful way possible, but you also know it’s a lost cause. Where Kill spends more time torturing those who deserve it, Marco focuses on torturing the innocent. And it seems completely unnecessary.
I’m no purist, but in the end, I’ll choose a film with substance over style, even if that’s important. I would love to enjoy every (if not most) punch, kick, dismemberment and decapitation. Give me something more unexpected than seeing people get unnecessarily tortured for shallow reasons; That’s low hanging fruit.
Still, Marco dared to step where no one has before, so congratulations. The film went from being released on 89 screens on the first day to 1360 screens in the third week and earned more. Earned 79 crores worldwide in 14 days, which is a victory for Malayalam cinema. It is also being released in Korea. But whether the film succeeds in its task or not, Indian cinema has officially understood gore. And it symbolizes a new beginning.
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