Cadaver is a Tamil-language thriller film starring Amala Paul as a police surgeon who investigates the gruesome murder of a reputed heart surgeon.
On most occasions, a well-made crime thriller’s ability to grip the viewer’s attention can be attributed to the layered way in which the mystery unfolds. Now, this unfolding should not be so confusing that the viewer loses the plot, and it shouldn’t be so easily explainable that the viewer anticipates the obvious.
Amala Paul’s latest release as an actor and a producer, Cadaver, promises to be a thrilling nail-biter in its trailer. Who doesn’t want to watch the main protagonist be a mastermind in criminology being one-upped by an equally inventive criminal mind?
The trick though remains that when the cat and mouse game ends, the culmination should not be brought about by the tool of convenient writing.
The Story
Bhadra Thangavel (Amala Paul) became a police surgeon to serve two purposes – to fulfill her parent’s dream of seeing their daughter become a medical professional and to fulfill her own dream of becoming an investigative officer.
When a high-profile doctor’s body is found in a burnt fashion in a nearby forest, due to pressure from the powerful father of the victim, Bhadra is pushed to take part in the action as the case could do well with her genius working on it.
It’s soon revealed that an inmate in the local jail named Vetri (Thirgun) had earlier claimed to be plotting a plan to kill the doctor. However, the catch remains that Vetri has not left the jail premises in a long time. His only contact with the outer world remains a priest, who occasionally comes to pray for the inmates.
As Bhadra, with the help of ACP Vishal (Harish Uthaman), digs deeper into the case, she finds out about a bigger conspiracy at play that stands to risk more people’s lives.
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Reasons To Stream
Cadaver does a fine job setting up its world in a manner that grips the imagination of the onlooker. Within moments into the film, the killer is introduced in an eery fashion, setting up the tone of the rest of the film. The possibility of an eccentric murderer on the run and references to Biblical characters that follow all add to the deceptive mystery that’s brewing, enough to keep the viewer interested through the first act.
The music contributes amply to building up the atmosphere necessitated by a crime thriller that attempts to walk the line between the divine world and the human one. On most occasions, even when the scene itself is not horrifying in its entirety, the music does a fine job of amping up the suspense for the sequence to work.
The character work is noticeable and adds some momentary intrigue to the story. Without giving spoilers, it can be said that there are enough good people to compensate for the bad guys in the film.
Athulya and Thirgun, who play the couple Angel and Vetri, provide the emotional substance through their performances that often goes missing in crime thrillers. Both actors perform noticeably in their roles.
Reasons To Skip
While Amala Paul headlines the movie as a brilliant surgeon, her performance rarely reaches out as genuine. At certain moments, her desperate attempt to create impact results in a rather underwhelming scene.
The success formula for the thriller genre requires the story to be well-packed in terms of narration. Cadaver‘s story unfolds in pieces that do not quite fit chronologically to make the perfect crime thriller that surprises and awes at the same time.
Predictability is definitely not the strongest attribute to have for a film like Cadaver. Beyond a point, the mystery reduces down to a question of time before everything starts making sense. The movie loses its touch with the elements that make for a great thriller way before the climax, which is easily provided some redemption through the magic of storytelling convenience.
What the film lacks in terms of suspense, it tries to make up for it through gory and creepy visuals of dead bodies. While the film did try to justify the title in all honesty, the scenes do little than motivate the weak-hearted viewer to go and fetch the puke bag.
The Verdict
Cadaver shows promise in its initial moments, but the promise is soon overwhelmed by the desperation to create suspense. The rest of the actors, apart from Amala Paul, really manage to hold some momentary interest before the inconsistency in the flow of the story becomes distracting enough to make one incapable of appreciating the film’s finer achievements.
With the idea backing the film that dead humans can convey more than living ones, Cadaver does not end up becoming something at least the living humans will enjoy to the fullest if they are hopeful of watching an enticing mystery thriller. The only positive thing is – the film wouldn’t leave you wishing you were dead either.
Rating: 2.5/5
Cadaver is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Watch the trailer of Cadaver here:
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