The movie Kingmakers premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 22nd May 2015. Prominent on the red carpet were Movie Director Nicholas Beveney, cast and crew of the movie including Ken Smart, Collins Archie Pearce, Yvonne Hayes, stakeholders in Nollywood UK including Riyike Alayande, Kenneth Benson, Nelson Spyke, Florence Blaster Okonkwo, and a host of other important people.
Storyline: In this movie, the President of the African state "Karombe" (Collins Archie Pearce) has just died. While alive, he was a tyrant. The country had diamonds and petroleum and as such western countries had economic interest in the country including who its leader was.
The death of the President prompted an international political battle between western parties intent on determining his replacement in order to protect their economic interests. Governments and their secret services in the western world maneuvered to benefit their economies and this led to disastrous effects. Kingmakers is a story of kinship, betrayal, murder and love.
Let me start by saying that this is not a traditional Nollywood movie that we are used to watching. It is more of a collaboration based around what happens in developing countries with Africa as the centre point of the storyline. Also, we were informed that what was shown is a cut from a 13 series TV series yet to be shown.
As is my style, let me start from the positives. This movie exposes some of the ills and greed of the so called developed countries. As was seen in the case of Iraq, all the so called allied countries were interested in was the oil in the country and as shown, there were no chemicals of mass destruction found in the country. The same is the case here where secret services of developed countries come together and conspire to the extent of eliminating people so as to get their choice as the next President.
The movie also highlighted the parts the Africans play in power politics and how far they would go including the use of voodoo and African magic and how people are willing to betray each other and even ill for power.
In my view, while this would have been an excellent storyline if well captured, the essence of the movie became lost as the movie dragged on for too long. In my view, some of the scenes did not make any sense and I wonder what was the relevance in the movie. One of these was the continued showing of a child and his father in the forest. Their roles were not quite explained or told to show their relevance to the movie as a whole. I can only guess it had to do with survival.
To be real with those that read this review, the person that sat next to me had to comment that the movie dragged on for too long and one or two people asked me if I could understand what the whole movie was about and I had to explain what was my own take on the movie.
As a movie critic and reviewer, I keep stressing that within the first 10 minutes of a movie, the audience should have a clue about the storyline even if they don’t know where the movie would end and there are elements of suspense. In my view and to be brutally honest, I think this was missing in the cut that we were shown tonight.
Also and to the dismay of many people who wanted to see where the movie would end and who amongst all the parties would take over the reins of power amongst all the power brokers, personally I was disappointed that the movie was to be continued. While I understand that the movie was a cut from a TV series, people paid money to come and watch the cut and it is those same people that can become a source of advertisement for the movie when it becomes live on TV. I would have preferred if there was a form of conclusion in the cut that was shown so people understand the movie properly. The cut to me represented being in between land and the deep blue sea. I guess what I am saying is that I believe the cut shown was a bit premature and probably should have been shown on conclusion of the whole script. That way, people would have left with a better understanding of what the writer intended. You may say I am a bit harsh, but that is my honest opinion.
I said in my last review and I would re-iterate it, sometimes less is better. The shorter and tighter a storyline is and subsequently the movie, in my view the better the movie would turn out to be.
Cast: The film starred Pamela Nomvete, Ken Smart, Collins Archie Pearce, Ronnie Nyakale, Cornelius Maccarthy, Maggie Saunders, David Webber, Adanna Oji, Nolo Phiri, Ken Christiansen, Charles Mpana, A Dot Comedian, Yvonne Hayes, Princess Abiye, Princess Shoyelu Adebisi amongst others. It was written and directed by Nicholas Beveney.
In this movie cut, apart from some scenes where I had to say that the President’s wife was good, I think the cast just stuck to the script and what the Director expected. I cannot pin point any exceptional character especially amongst the lead characters. However, in some cases, I found it difficult to understand what some people were saying. Also maybe because it is a TV series, there were too many people in the cast and losing some of them would have made the storyline tighter.
The lady in the Radio station is an example. Not commenting on her acting but the question is how her role actually added anything to the movie as a whole. She was meant to be a freedom fighter but a scene with a group of freedom fighters would have been more realistic that give such a lead to someone and people are wondering what her role actually represents. Again, that is me speaking, but as a Director, I would not have cast her as a single role. Her role added no value to the movie. The same was the case with father and son in the wilderness or forest as discussed earlier.
In concluding this section, while I cannot pinpoint any exceptional character, I also cannot pinpoint any member of the cast who was below par and I am writing at the early hours of the morning when the movie is still fresh in my mind.
Picture Quality: The picture quality was generally good. I would not say that they were excellent as I have seen some Nollywood movies with better picture quality. However, I did not notice shaky pictures or pictures that were out of frame and for this I commend the team. Not much to say on the picture quality.
Sound Quality: With regards to the sound, again for most parts, the sound was of very good quality. However, in some cases, I could not understand what the people were saying. I really did not have cause for concern with the general sound quality of the movie. However, I thin with relation to the sound, there could have been a bit of improvement.
Overall performance: Overall, I think the Director needs to think about what he wants to achieve when writing the continuation of this movie. I have already dealt with the fact that the movie was lengthy. People have to be able to follow the storyline especially if it is going to be a series.
I cannot but mention one or two things or I would not be doing justice to this review. In some scenes, I saw one that someone was shot in the head and we saw the swelling on the head and no blood. There was also the case of the child who was pierced with a knife in the hand and no blood gushing out. I think when telling a story, people need to be convinced that the storyline is real and this was not the case here.
We also saw a man killed and his body was left in the studio. Although he was killed with a knife and stabbed from the back, it was too artificial. We now saw someone taking from his corpse I believe his heart and eating it raw. If we needed to show that (and in my view) this did not tally with the entire story, it needed to be done properly. What was the role of the DJ and was he meant to be portrayed as a cannibal?
What I am saying in earnest is that while the storyline in itself was real and one that I commend, a whole lot of the movie could have been done away with and emphasis placed on certain parts. I would lie to see another cut of this movie when the concluding parts have been written which would be shorter and more realistic and then I would rethink the review I would write.
I said this before and would continue to re-iterate it. As producers and directors, little things count. Stories have to be told to look real for the people watching. People want to come watch a movie and keep thinking about it till they watch the next one.
As a reviewer and critic, while I would like to commend the cast and crew for effort, but I am looking forward to a better finished production. Having said all that, the question is if I would recommend this movie. As a movie critic and reviewer, the cut that I saw is not a finished product and could do with a lot more editing.
Seeing that the series has not been concluded yet, I would like to see another cut when the conclusion has been written. As much as I would lie to recommend this movie, I cannot and would say back to the drawing board if this is to be a movie.
As a TV series, from the 1st episodes people would make up their minds if it is for them. I would recommend tighter storylines for the series. I may be seen as harsh on this review, but I only write what I see.
Watch the trailer:
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