Kingston Movie Review: A stale horror film hidden beneath several convoluted ideas

Kingston offers its major twists and turns with sincere effort, as though the predictable writing doesn't loudly hint at them several scenes ago

Kingston raises several questions. However, none of them are borne out of intrigue or our interest in how the story unfolds. Most of the questions are directed at how the film chooses to take a perfectly good premise and convolutes it beyond any and all recognition. The film promises a 'sea monster' film and predictably, the monster was "the greed all along." For a major portion of the film, we are teased 'sea monsters' and all we get are people in badly done horror makeup. Kingston forgoes any and all joys of the genre and focuses entirely on making itself look overly complicated.

Director: Kamal Prakash
Cast: GV Prakash Kumar, Divyabharathi, Chetan, Azhagam Perumal

A fishing village is devastated by a curse, which stops them from fishing, essentially destroying their livelihood. At several points in the film, almost every character gets to deliver a lengthy expository monologue. Everyone gets a chance to spout a needlessly extensive backstory. It becomes breathtakingly convoluted when we get to a point where there are backstories within backstories. The number of times you sigh when you see a flashback coming far exceeds the times you cheer in excitement, which comes to a grand total of zero. The story takes five steps backwards for every step it takes. As if sea-zombies are not enough, there is a don who controls all of Thoothukudi, a village head with mysterious intentions, a former military man, a cursed treasure, a blessed bloodline impervious to paranormal curse, a young boy on a mission to redeem his father, and a too-cool-to-care-about-anything-but-money hero. The problem is not the chaotic mix of all of these above-mentioned ideas but how they so are glaringly forced to fit each other.

The decision to write the sea monsters as a result of a scorned, greedy old man's ghost and not due to a cursed gold lying on the seabed is truly baffling. They do try to justify the move by showing how the villagers diligently took the time to melt the cursed gold and pour it on the coffin before tossing it into the ocean but this is exactly the kind of bending-over-backwards to stitch its ideas together that the film suffers from. GV Prakash Kumar tries his best to be the 'devil may care' hero but we fail to understand or connect with him as he goes from one bad decision to another, often putting everyone around him in danger. Kingston offers its major twists and turns with sincere effort, as though the predictable writing doesn't loudly hint at them several scenes ago.

Any film that promotes itself as "India/Tamil's first-ever—insert random sub-genre here—film" seems to be an instant red flag. Except for its grating sound mixing, Kingston seems to exhibit technical competency, and you could see how it could have offered an entertaining genre film. The director seems to have observed how some of the best creature films, like Jaws and the first Jurassic Park, greatly benefited from keeping their creatures in the shadows until the very end. The 'sea monsters' show up late in the film, building all the intrigue, we even forgive the chaotic storytelling and patiently wait in the hopes for the pay-off in the end. The disappointment is compounded when the sub-genre is disrespected and we realise that the 'sea monsters' are merely distractions while the main antagonist happens to be a plain old ghost. This is perhaps why a magician, who confounds and even annoys you all through the setup of his magic trick, gets away with it when he excites the audience with a satisfying reveal at the end. However, when the pay-off is just him telling you it was never a magic show but a stand-up comedy routine all along, perhaps the joke is on you.