Right from the promos, Kingston has been a film that has been interesting to look out for, thanks to its tagline of ‘India’s first sea fantasy adventure’ which has also backed it up with promising visuals through and through. But does the film deliver on the forefront?
Kingston is the story of a village that is cursed as their fishermen cannot go out into the sea, and they find small jobs within the city to work on. After getting on the wrong side of a deal with a gangster, Kingu (GV Prakash playing Kingston) decides to get into the sea with a motto of at least dying for his people rather than at the hands of a wrong person. As he moves into the sea, he and his friends are taken over by the cursed sea, and the creatures they meet on the way. What separates Kingston from the other usual thrillers that we have seen in this genre, is the drama that director Kamal Prakash has created, for he has picked up a sub-plot involving a drama between two characters in the past – Azhagam Perumal and Chetan have a story going on between them which is narrated as a flashback, while GVP and his friends are fighting it out in the sea. While this idea is unique and deserves praise, the problem is that it does not meet the right output and stutters the flow of the film, which is quite successful in terms of its action sequences and thrilling moments. In terms of the performances, GVP takes a step ahead with what he brings with Kingston, but the rest of the cast are just about functional.
Visually, Kingston is excellent as it has superb cinematography by Gokul Benoy, with solid VFX design and the music and the tone of the film also helps it. There are two sequences in the second half which really deliver the thrills and make it a worthy big screen experience.
However, if Kamal Prakash had worked out his ideas into better onscreen output without losing the thrill factor in the film, it would be an enthralling watch on the whole. Nevertheless, Kingston still lands as a visually brilliant theatrical experience that is very good in terms of its action and scale.