Movie Info
Synopsis
Mercury is an 2018 Indian silent horror thriller film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. It stars an ensemble cast including Prabhu Deva, Sananth Reddy, Deepak Paramesh, Shashank Purushotham, Anish Padmanabhan, Indhuja and Gajaraj. Tirru was hired as the cinematographer after his recent work on Vanamagan, his first collaboration with Karthik Subbaraj. The trailer of the movie released on 10th April 2018.Wikipedia
Starring Cast
Mercury Reviews
3
Karthik Subbaraj has had fun with the undead in Pizza, and the unlovely in Jigarthanda, but this one is a much-too stretched out misguided mess, masquerading as a parable.
6
Because Mercury finds context, and not just gimmickry, in its treatment of sound. It remains scary precisely because the actual ghosts are never seen, but only ever heard about. Just like real life.
4
There's something very pompous about the basic pitch of this movie that slowly chews away at its core..
6
Prabhudheva as the entity is scary at first. But there are times when his piercing cries get a little too much and are rendered ineffective. The way how the filmmaker has tried to tie-up corporate disasters to the film’s story is commendable, but he also tries a lot to simplify the story which gets in the way of the scary parts considering the film only runs for 108 minutes. However, as thrillers go, this is one of the better ones that we have seen this year.
4
Four lads and a girl are at a school reunion and are happily partying when they accidentally run over someone. They find themselves trapped in an old abandoned factory at the mercy of a madman. The terror is doubled because the protagonists are speech and hearing impaired. It's an interesting experiment but the loud background music fails many, many times. As does the overacting.
4
Overall, to appreciate any good piece of art, one needs to ruminate to find a meaning in its composition. Despite not breaking any barriers, Mercury offers a lot to ruminate about, not in an organic manner but a forced one.
5
At just over 100 minutes, Mercury is quite slick, and there aren't any dull moments until the final act ruins everything and leaves a bad aftertaste. That's just such a pity.
6
Give it a watch if you want to experience something fresh because Mercury is worth a watch.
Audience Reviews for Mercury
-
undigestable scenes , idiotic , narration good. script very bad
0April 22, 18 -
For a silent film, Mercury's soundtrack has enough going on. Unfortunately, that is the only thing going on here as you end up being sermoned by director-writer Karthik Subbaraj about the hazards of mercury poisoning in what feels like a contrived thriller at best. Five youngsters - all both deaf and dumb - are out partying at a farmhouse. It is the adolescent nature in them that drives them to go on a quick outing in the middle of the night. What starts like a merry trip with two of them even introducing their love for each other comes to a screeching halt when they find a dead body (Prabhu Deva). Because none of them can hear, the further proceedings in the film become a bit challenging to follow. With Subbaraj throwing flashbacks at you, there's a constant sense of apprehension in the narrative, which even the smartest viewer will find slightly annoying. The use of ambient score earns brownie points here, but this is no Pushpak Vimana (1987) or Raja Harishchandra (1913) which Mercury boasts of being inspired from. This thriller has been meticulously plotted so as to turn it into a silent film, which is how dictionaries around the world define the term "gimmick", even in cinema parlance. Even as a well-shot thriller, it does suffer from huge plotholes and conceptual issues because at one point you have Deva acting like a victim of mercury poisoning (the main theme) and at other he has shades of paranormal activity. The hybrid may be true but writer Subbaraj hardly hints at their combination, instead always focusing on how the camera captures the actors' emotive faces or forcing the audience stoop at their seats awaiting a jump-scare. Mercury starts off well but quickly goes downhill to become a boring stash of a soundtrack-driven drivel. With unintentional humor scattered all over the place and amateur performances by the lead actors, there is only so much to appreciate in this thriller. Which is not enough to justify a ticket price especially when there are better films out there. TN.
More at www.nairtejas.com/0April 13, 18
