Bazooka Review: A Cop A Hacker And A Game No One’s Ready To Play

Bazooka is a gripping Malayalam action thriller that distinguishes itself among the recent OTT offerings with its fascinating blend of gaming-style crime and hard-hitting investigation. The film follows Benjamin Joshua, a sharp and level-headed police officer played by the legendary Mammootty, as he investigates a series of puzzling robberies in Kochi. 

These crimes are anything but ordinary—the assailants replicate game-like tactics, bringing the city to an actual game simulation of anarchy and strategems. To decipher it, Benjamin teams up with Caesar John, a retired forensic specialist and moral hacker whose persona is portrayed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. 

In a time-game, the line between real and virtual vanishes and the duo will need to be smarter than a new generation of high-tech criminals. With stylish camera work, pulsating background score, and credible performances, Bazooka provides a fresh twist to crime thrillers in the digital age.

Level Up: The Game Begins in Real Life

In Bazooka, Kochi, a throbbing city, provides the backdrop for a sequence of elaborate and fearless robberies—but these aren't run-of-the-mill crimes. Each maneuver, every means of getaway, and all the criminal ingenuity seems to have been plagiarized straight out of an über-video game.

Step in Benjamin Joshua, a seasoned and analytical policeman with a quick mind and an easy-going temper. As the robberies increase in scope and sophistication, Benjamin suspects a more sinister motif—a computer guide leading the perpetrators.

In order to crack this lethal game, he teams up with Caesar John, a retired but genius forensic scientist and ethical hacker. With Caesar's digital forensic know-how and Benjamin's street sense, they develop a trail of a network of computerized criminals who play reality like a multiplayer game.

As clues unravel, the distinction between the real world and virtual strategy grows thin, compelling the investigators to play by different rules. In this game of cat and mouse, winning requires one to think like a gamer—but behave like a cop. Bazooka is not simply about apprehending the culprits—it's about comprehending a world where crime has mutated, and justice needs to revamp its software.

Bazooka Review: When Crime Goes Console-Mode in a Gritty, Stylish Thriller

Bazooka (2025), directed by debutant Deeno Dennis, is no ordinary cop-vs-criminal thriller. It's a sleek, stylized Malayalam action-thriller with the balls to ask the question: What if crime were a video game? With a taut script, stylized camera work, and Mammootty's towering performance, Bazooka casually ignores conventional genre expectations to offer something sleek, smart, and thoroughly contemporary.

Performances: Mammootty Levels Up

Mammootty delivers a tightly coiled performance as Benjamin Joshua with understated restraint and intensity. His on-screen presence lends gravitas to the film, and his understated emotional scenes enrich the image of a man forever playing games of cerebral chess. 

Gautham Vasudev Menon, being a rare camera presence, leaves a memorable mark before it, as the dashing and inquiring Caesar. Sharaf U Dheen is unpredictable and adds depth to the characters, and Basil Joseph, Divya Pillai, and Indrans do well as supporting characters.

Direction & Technical Brilliance

Deeno Dennis, a debut director, is the son of veteran scriptwriter Kaloor Dennis. His vision is sharp—combining noir imagery with neon-soaked lighting, smooth cuts, and unnerving silences. Bazooka feels and looks like a graphic novel on the screen. 

The moody and immersive cinematography by Nimish Ravi makes Kochi look like a real city as well as an otherworldly gameboard. Midhun Mukundan's background score pulses with tension, pumping urgency and grime into each scene.

Themes: A Mind Game More Than Muscle

What is most interesting in Bazooka is its intellectual side. It's not who, it's why and how in a universe where the simulated and the real converge. The film deals with obsession, vengeance, and the cost of internet addiction but never at the cost of the proceedings ever getting slack. For those who love high-concept thrillers, this is Malayalam cinema going out global in storytelling terms.

Conclusion

Bazooka is more than another action film—it's a cool, cerebral game of cat and mouse where crime, justice, and technology cross wires. Courtesy the commanding performance by Mammootty, an gripping story framework, and an premise that ties playing and real life crime, the film offers something fresher and superior for followers of Malayalam films. 

As we await its official new OTT release, Bazooka is a bold experiment with storytelling—one that invites the viewer to play along, question reality, and stay two paces ahead. When this game goes digital, get ready to press play.