Penguin movie (2020) Tamil movie review:Keerthy Suresh's thriller and emotional movies

Popular South Indian actress Keerthy Suresh's film Penguin is touted as an emotional, psychological thriller with a lot of suspense. Does it pack in all these elements? To be honest, it does. Penguin has its moments, some pretty memorable ones. It has the thrills of the slasher genre as well. But does it all lead to a truly nail-biting finish. Here is our review of the film... Also Read 

Penguin Movie Synopsis: A pregnant woman goes in search of her first child, who has been missing for six years. 

Penguin Movie Review: In the opening scene of Penguin, a kid walks towards a statue in the woods even as his pet cautions him with his barks. As he nears the imposing statue, a person wearing a Charlie Chaplin mask steps from behind it, and in one swift move, slashes the kid. The murderer then picks up the body and walks into a lake, and for a few seconds all that we see is the striking visual of a yellow umbrella submerging into a grey lake. With this frightful stretch, director Eashvar Karthic sets the mood of his film quite effectively.

We are then introduced to Rhythm (Keerthy Suresh), a pregnant woman, still carrying the guilt of letting down her son, Ajay, who has been missing for six years. The incident has reshaped her life, destroying her marriage to Raghu (Linga), but also leading her to her present husband Gautham (Madhampatty Rangaraj). Everyone, including the police, believes the boy to be dead, but Rhythm will not hear anything of it. On a whim, and against the advice of her doctor, she goes to the lake where the boy went missing, and by a quirk of fate, she manages to find Ajay (Master Advaith) even while trying to avoid a masked killer. But where was the boy all these years, and who had kidnapped him?

The first half is fairly engaging and some scenes are creepy enough to genuinely give us the chills. These mainly involve the boy Ajay, and Master Advaith captures the freaky aspect of this character pretty well, and keeps us guessing as to what this kid might do next. At times, the way he stares recalls Harvey Spencer Stephens's portrayal of Damein in Omen. He also gets a terrific moment in the intermission point. But it is mainly Kharthik Phalani's visuals and Santhosh Narayanan's score that set the eerie mood.. 

Penguin suffers from the curse of the second half. The terrific first half sets us up nicely but the second one is a disappointment. It looks like the writers were in a hurry to wind up the film. It is not like it Penguin does not retain its suspense, but the execution and writing is quite weak. There is a twist, which might not appeal to fans of this genre. Plus, those looking for some logic in the proceedings might question a lot of the developments. Filmmaker Eashvar Karthic ruins the climax by making it rather hackneyed and over dramatic.Penguin is a decent one-time watch. The credit should go to Keerthy Suresh who carries it on her shoulders with aplomb.

MY RATING 5.5/10