My verdict: 2.5 out of 5
2014 | Fantasy | 4parts | 240minutes 20secs | Watch here
The premise of this story was very ambitious. So ambitious that if it was human, Dangote would have had nothing on it. Well maybe except for dedication and precision at making his dreams come true. The synopsis read:
The quest to be the next king led Prince James into trying to assassinate his own younger brother Prince Nelson who is favored by their father to succeed him on being the next king of the land, unfortunately on his way back to the palace he is assassinated and thrown into the mystique land (The Land Of Magic). Watch how the story of Prince Nelson unfolds in the land of magic.
I would try my best to be as nice as possible since this is the first movie I think Nosa Rex and Amara Maduka has written. But this movie get as e be sha. So as the synopsis already stated it was about a king who chooses his second son, Nelson (Nosa Rex) instead of the power hungry and psychotic first, James (Badaiki Erom Shaggy) to succeed him.
I want to give two thumbs up to Tammy Opusunju. Damn! For the first time ever, you have proven to be quite the versatile actor. I was shocked how well he played the role of the old man. He was slow enough, mischevious, maintained a cracked voice. Also he didn’t even try his usual America wonder accent. I was impressed, I think he should take more roles that are very different from the usual he does because he is good at his craft. I also liked the end of the movie, it ended in a very certain manner because we could tell what decision he was going to take which was also nice to see.
However, this movie failed on so many counts. First was casting, both James and Nelson’s kids looked older than them. I do not care for the mythical growth sprout. They should have been more reasonable with the casting. How can you say Francis Duru is the son of Nosa Rex? I mean, FRANCIS DURU, the AHANNA? The time Francis was acting I bet Nosa was still in primary school adding ones and twos. Also the dwarf that was James’ child, that man looked like he himself was James’ father and not the other way round.
Second was the Agatha character, Amara Maduka tried her best to portray this character she wrote for herself but it was written poorly. Sometimes, the supposed smartness came across as contrived, it didn’t seem as natural as it was supposed to be.
Third, the script lacked continuity, most of the previous conversations made in a prior scene were forgotten and replaced with new dialogues. Like for example, they may have said in scene one: Obi is dead and they cry and mourn, then in scene two they’d say: we can’t make any decisions until we are sure Obi is dead. You see, no correlation with the previous.
Lastly, Eromosere’s acting, bros no be so; it was so forced that instead of it to look intense, it looked very comical. I laughed whenever he came on the television. Even, Nosa gave us another version of himself, dude was not acting at all.
The story did have quite the layers and a good premise but needed extra prepping and fine tuning as well as better direction.
Cast
Ngozi Ezeonu as Queen Itoro
Joyce Kalu as Queen Kalu
Harry B as Igwe Aruna
Francis Duru as Naeto
Badaiki Erom Shaggy as Prince James
Nosa Rex as Prince/Igwe Nelson
Tammy Opusunju as Natty
Nichole Banna as Princess
Oluchi Ukaku as Female
Amara Maduka as Agatha ‘Agas’
Directed by
Nonso Ekene Okonkwo
Written by / Screenplay by
Nosa Rex
Amara Maduka
Produced by
Solomon Apete
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Do you agree with me?