2018 is an acclaimed Malayalam movie which released last Friday and is doing roaring business in cinemas. As the name suggests, it is set in the year 2018 and is about the devastating floods that occurred in the state that year. There are multiple tracks and the 150-minute-long film is quite captivating. There are several nail-biting and thrilling moments which keep the viewers gripped. The VFX and scale of the film are topnotch. On the flipside, there are too many characters in the film and it takes a while to understand and process who is who and related to whom. The makers could have done away with a track or two. There was no conclusion to one of the tracks and a major development in the climax is a little unconvincing. 2018, however, rests on splendid performances. Tovino Thomas (Anoop), who is famous nationwide for playing the lead in Minnal Murali, is excellent. Asif Ali (Nixon) puts up a confident act. Tanvi Ram (Manju) is lovely. Lal (Mathachan) rocks the show, as expected. Vineeth Sreenivasan (Rameshan) is quite likeable. Kalaiyarasan (Sethupathy) is memorable. Sudheesh (Varghese) leaves a huge mark in the second half and the same goes for the actor playing his son. Nileen Sandra (Asif Ali's sister-in-law) is great, especially in the first half. The others who do well are Narain (Winston), Aju Varghese (Taxi driver Koshy) and Indrans (Bhasi). The male actor who plays the Polish tourist hams. All in all, 2018 is worth watching for its grandeur, performances and tight script. It is currently running with English subtitles and is expected to release in cinemas soon in the dubbed Hindi version.

My rating - *** ½ out of 5!