‘Kingston’ from Director Kamal Prakash is set in a small village where their livelihood is ripped from them upon a serious and deadly curse from a death in 1982. The unrest soul of a villager is then dumped in the sea which opens up the mysterious deaths and unimaginable bloodshed, restricting the villagers from entering the sea.
In order for the villagers to get their livelihood back and earn on their own, the fearing sea must be explored and who other than the protagonist ‘Kingston’ who dares rather blindly along with his friends to find the true reason beyond the ‘folklore’ and solve the issue after finding his own morality in the shore. ‘Kingston’ is a new attempt in Indian Cinema that is based on a sea adventure but sails adrift with a clumsy storyline that is swaying with the screenplay.
Wishing the team of#Kingston the very best for a Blockbuster Success at the Theatres. 🔥 🔥
— karthik subbaraj (@karthiksubbaraj) March 7, 2025
All the Best Team 👍👍👍@gvprakash @storyteller_kp @ZeeStudiosSouth @ParallelUniPic@divyabarti2801 @gokulbenoy @dhilipaction @Sanlokesh pic.twitter.com/kePSbsXon2
‘Kingston’ Plot and Premise
Set in the fictitious village near Thoothukudi, Thoovathur is haunted with a string of deaths of fishermen who navigate the sea for fishing. After decades, Kingston (GV Prakash) is a money minded self centred person who works for a local kingpin Thomas. Kingston after a traumatic loss finds out the true drug trafficking done by Thomas and finds he is using the villagers as his pawns to satisfy his greed. After he finds that his love interest Rose (Divyabarathi) is kidnapped and sent into the sea as a sacrifice, Kingston along with his friends decide to venture into the sea, daring the supposed curse and finding the depth of the mystery surrounding his village.
The Positive Aspects
‘Kingston’ impresses heavily with its visuals especially in the second half, a splendid showcase of the brewing storm in the middle of the brimming sea and the foggy eerie sequence that invites the ghastly sea creatures.
Director Kamal Prakash starts off with a potential story with mysterious elements and supernatural causes. Editor San Lokesh elevates the mysterious missing of women and helps heavily with the non linear screenplay that juggled form the 1982 story and the current timeline.
GV Prakash convincingly moulds into the careless and selfish trafficker to a sensible villager who is affected by the trauma after losing Benjamin, a young boy who wanted to navigate the sea with Kingston.
List of Upcoming Movies of GV Prakash: The Musician/ Actor is turning New Leaves in 2025The Negative Aspects
For a seafarer adventure that is backed technically with flaring visuals but fails to mature into the fear factor. Even when the boat is surrounded by the sacrificed female creatures with jumpscares, the creatures were merely fearsome on a surface level with the convincing ghoulish makeup.
The abrupt switches and undefined sequences such as the crew attacked by the creatures but survive unaffected doesn’t really add up to the hype. A bland attack that is fruitless for the emotional element could have used the death of a crew member to balance for the missing twists and turns.
GV Prakash’s music elevates at times and blares all along the second half making it neither distracting from the saltless screenplay nor does the job according to the flow.
Verdict
‘Kingston’ from Director Kamal Prakash could have been a chilling Seafare Adventure if only it stuck with the mysterious supernatural elements instead drifted away to an entanglement of stories that is neither true nor logically convincing. Good acting showcases mounted impressively on the little budget, it is a decent option for the weekend watch.
2/5
