Guardian Movie Review: Haunted by cliches of the genre

The fundamental idea of designing a character starts with giving them an identity. This identity will define the character's appearance, personality, and behaviour. When an entire narrative is shouldered on a character, the identity of that character becomes extremely important to the film. Within a few minutes into Guardian, you sense that, in this regard, the film falls flat on its face, letting you wonder what could be the basic one-line description of Hansika Motwani's character. Guardian is billed as a horror-revenge thriller. Although the initial fall can be forgiven as starting trouble, the rest of the film drags on without picking up the pace, indicating that it is not just a starting error.

Director: Sabari- Guru Saravanan
Cast   : Hansika Motwani, Motta Rajendran, Sriman

Sorcerers have always been used as catalysts or one of the central elements in Indian horror films. Guardian also begins with sorcery, with a title card that features a kid with a doll in her hands. These visuals are padded with Sam CS's jarring score and the underwhelming VFX that tries to evoke a sense of dread but only ends up testing your patience instead. Hansika's Aparna, who at one point does experiments in a chemistry lab is now an interior designer somehow. The film is marked with such baffling writing choices.

The problems in the writing are even more evident when you look at the characterization of Aparna more closely. While the writing suggests that Aparna is unlucky, it fails to provide any insight into her personality or preferences. This leaves you wondering if Aparna holds any significance to the story, despite appearing in every other scene. The weakness in the writing becomes all the more apparent with how the story is presented. When scenes are sporadically juxtaposed with flashbacks, without obvious visual cues, it becomes difficult to understand.

However, we cannot blame the writing alone. The film's attempts to maintain a consistent pace are hindered by the subpar performance of the actors, making it an excruciating viewing experience. This is especially evident when new characters are introduced, particularly during the comedic scenes, which can be cringe-inducing. It's unfortunate that the film's horror elements come across as more comedic than the actual attempts at humour, which are poorly integrated into the story.

During the intermission, we witness Aparna's first encounter with supernatural entities, but in the very next scene, she is shown washing her face, with no trace of emotions left from the previous incident. Aside from the writing and performances, this inconsistency is just one of the many aspects of the film that make it a disappointing and below-average experience. The same could be said for other departments like music, cinematography, and makeup as well.

Like countless horror films, the ghost in Guardian too is gripped with revenge. Even with a familiar story, the makers could have still made an engaging film with focused storytelling or at least they could have leveraged the thrills of the genre. However, the jumpscares are as bland as the story. As the end credits roll, the film quickly fades away from your memory, like a ghost with unrealised dreams.