Leeladharan(Sibi) and his friends do a lot of menial tasks with the only goal of collecting enough money to purchase a gun. Chellamma(Nila), who works in a mental institution, has a few run-ins with the group and slowly develops a liking for Lee. But she is shocked when she sees Lee trying to kill a Minister and confronts him. Only then does Lee tell her about his past as a football player in college and the reason his dreams came crashing down.

Lee has one of the most lightweight and inconsequential first halves I remember seeing in recent times. The entire first half of the film is devoted to Sibi's attempts to own a gun and this one-line story is padded to fill more than an hour with a silly romance, duets and long chases. There are a few scattered surprises(Sibi's chase of the guys who just shot another man doesn't end the way such chases usually end and his conversation with the bad guys once he catches up with them is unexpected too) but at the intermission point, when we realise how little the movie has moved forward in terms of the story, it is frustrating and disappointing.

The romance was the worst part of Prabhu Solomon's previous effort Kokki and he's been consistent since it is the worst part of Lee too! It starts off based on a mix-up that makes Sibi and his friends think Nila is a mental patient. But Nila's behavior is so artificial and weird that even we viewers end up thinking she is a mental patient! And the scenario leads to familiar scenes in the mental hospital where it looks like the patients are used for comedy (admittedly there are not too many such scenes but I find the scenario very distasteful and feel that even one scene is one too many).

The threadbare nature of the buildup could have been partially forgiven if it had led to something new or substantial. But that doesn't happen here as the movie reveals itself to be a usual revenge tale. The issue that leads to Sibi's vendetta is admittedly something new since it deals with corruption in sports instead of the usual scenario of family members being murdered. But everything else is familiar as we get corruption and murders and a disgruntled powerful man in the middle of it all. Sibi's final monologue makes some nice points about our inability to make it big in any sport but it is a case of too little too late.

I am a big fan of style in a movie's picturization and have frequently bemoaned the lack of more directors who can add some visual flair and pizzazz to their movies. But Lee proves that too much of style can be a bad thing too. The movie does some cool things(like the introduction of its characters from an onscreen collage of scenes) initially. But as the movie proceeds, the frequent cuts(accompanied by the familiar flash and a whoosh between scenes) and slo-mo shots become overwhelming. Coupled with the lack of anything meaty, the visual techniques simply seem like the director's attempts to cover up the flimsiness of the story.

Sibi drops his usual nakkal dialog delivery(borrowed from his father) to play the strong and silent type. It doesn't require much from him since he just has to look sad or angry most of the time and not speak much. Nila is saddled with an irritating character and her overacting only makes things worse. Prakashraj is dignified as usual in a small role.