Boat seriously. On board a sea vessel, a set of 32 gutka-stained teeth is so upset that he resembles an overcooked omelette. Seems he operates a flesh trade, is suddenly consumed by dread, worried sick that half a dozen of his girls have vanished into thin air. Despair.

Eureka, so Gutka Gargoyle hires a former cop to spin around like a crazy top. Assignment: to crack the case of the disappearing femmes in Murder 2, directed by Mohit Suri, who as a technocrat can be as appealing as kadhai-fresh bhaji puri. Truly, in terms of slick craftsmanship, this director remains underrated. Be it Kalyug, Woh Lamhe or Awarapan, there’s something special about his visual instincts. Plus, frequently he appears to be genuinely concerned about the exploitation of commercial sex workers.

Although not exactly an original, Puri can twist a plot premise to make it relevant to the Bollwoodesque milieu. This time around, he borrows elements from a Korean thriller (The Chaser), and even handpicks vintage elements from his co-producer Mahesh Bhatt’s cinema (a transvestite straight out of Sadak, and a senior citizen ranting against the system a la Saaransh). Aaah well, nothing like some cellar-aged wine, you guess.

Anyway, the opening reels of Murder 2 are electric, snazzily edited, photographed and the sound mixing’s a rock-hard blast. A Yana Gupta item number, and after a while a protracted sex scene, are super stylish. After all, if lip-a-loolah Emraan Hashmi’s around, a tsunami of kisses are a must. Helluva lot of smooch ado, gratifyingly done with a degree of finesse.

Once Emraan, as the ex-cop, has exercised his lips sufficiently with a glossy magazine model (Jacqueline Fernandes), he’s trailing a psycho killer. Psycho (Prashant Narayanan) has an inexplicable penchant for call girls. And good golly, Gutka Gargoyle has just sent over a fragile college girl for a night to his tumbledown villa. Now, your bone is chilled to the marrow. The dramaturgy has been edgy, suspenseful and scary. You share the anxieties of the Chumma Chumma Cop, bewigged-`n’-garbed as if he were off to a Halloween party. Woohoo, the popcorn’s crunchy..so far.

Trouble ahead: close to the intermission, the script becomes repetitive and as predictable as Hashmi’s bedraggled, world weary close-ups. Now you’re off with him to his mother’s grave, then to a disco party that’s strictly rave, and back to Lady Glossy Magazine who drinks, drinks, and drinks till she could inspire Sanjay Leela Bhansali to direct Devdasni. Next: the college girl, who must toil to support her impoverished family, lands up in a well full of corpses and rats. Another one, exhales smoke to inform our Chumma that the serial killer is, ummm, not exactly a stud cutlet. How saucy is that.

Lucklessly, the second-half of Murder 2, continues to slips downhill. Feeling ill.You don’t know what to make of the police force either, comprising the usual stereotypes: a bumbling type who slows down investigations, a granite-faced procrastinator and the police chief who, at one point, is slapped tight on the face. Ouch.

Clearly, the script is low on content but redeemingly high on style. Mohit Puri is best when he startles and shocks like the random scenes delving into the killer’s inner world.Somewhere along the line, he touches upon the abuse of religion towards personal gain but without exactly being articulate or bold. After all, there are more saleable matters to attend to dealing with love, sex and dhoklas.

On the techfront, the cinematography, the set designs and editing are an upper. Inevitably, the dialogue pops up with some ‘mc’, ‘bc’ profanities. The music is inspired consistently, with a thumbs up particularly for the background score by Raju Singh.

On the acting front, Prashant Narayanan as the smug-faced psycho is excellent. Keep all those Best Villain aka Actor in Negative Role Awards ready. Jacqueline Fernades essentially serves as the sex quotient. No great shakes-actress, she. To be fair, she’s more eye-candy than the overexposed Priyanka Chopras of the show world.

Expectedly, most of the footage is dominated by Emraan Hashmi, who has mastered two expressions: angry and angrier.

Bottomwhine: Murder 2 isn’t a patch on its progenitor. Its first-half is a zinger, though. To parrot the trade types, it has received a good opening and will keep all its investors happy.Yippee. Good night.