Cast: Tovino Thomas, Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Aparna Balamurali
Music: Nobin Paul
Direction: Jude Anthany Joseph
2018 is a film based on true events, the floods Kerala faced in 2018 after unprecedented rainfall. The film goes with a tagline ‘Everyone is a hero’ and it stays true to the tagline. All the stars in the film are treated as characters and not as stars. The film has a lot of characters, who are quite beautifully established in the first half of the film.
Each character has a small character arc where we first get introduced to them, then their situation and their temperament. Let’s take Anoop (Tovino Thomas), he is an ex-army guy who left the army because he was scared. He is waiting for his work visa to go to Dubai. Soon we see him fall in love, get engaged and wait for his wedding. Similarly take Asif Ali’s character, he starts off as a wannabe model, being irresponsible. He doesn’t get along with his brother, Winston (Narain), who is a fisherman. This detailed writing of all characters makes us connected to them.
The film takes you to Kerala, making all these characters your kith and kin. The writing clearly sets up some scenes for a payoff later which was predictable. Still, the payoffs are very effective, emotional and leave you in a high. There are some really good moments, like fisherman coming to the rescue, Asif Ali and Narain together saving the family of other disputed brothers.
The visuals were very realistic. Kudos to the entire team to pull off such amazing visuals. Its amazing how Malayalam cinema makes a beautiful film out of a calamity and spread humanity. They did that with Virus, now again in 2018.
Verdict: 2018 is an amazing Kerala story that spreads humanness
Cinephile's Amigo 
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