The movie Enchained premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 10th July 2015. Prominent on the red carpet were John Remedy, Tolulope Yesufu, Abigail Irving, Princess Abiye Tobin-Spiff Okusanya, Posh Dee, Collins Archie Pearce, Danny Erskine, HRH and Chief Oyebade, Adenike Helen Osabutey, Riyike Alayande, cast and crew and members of the public The premier was hosted by Toyin Moore and Prince Kevwe Ogunje
Storyline: Enchained is a movie shot in the UK about Ryan, a short- sighted young man from Nigeria, who was born to educated respectable parents and grew up within a God fearing family. Unfortunately whilst growing up in his native Nigeria, he fell in with some bad company which influenced his life tremendously.
As Ryan became further entrenched in this world of negative peers, his parents sent him to live with his aunt in the UK, to remove him from the negative influences that were plaging their son’s life. They also hoped that this would allow Ryan to further his education and lead him to turn his life around and make something of himself and make them proud.
On getting to the UK, Ryan tries his best to stay out of trouble but this did not last long before he falls back into his wayward ways. Eventually his aunt throws him out making him homeless and all the positive and good things in his life start to unravel.
Ryan’s luck changes when he becomes involved in a relationship with a classy professional woman Shanti. They fall in love and she becomes pregnant. Life starts off good for them as they try to build a life and family together. However it is not long before his lies, jealousy, cheating and violence chips away at the foundation of their family. Shanti is hopelessly devoted to him and despite her loved ones telling her to leave him and find someone better, she refuses to listen.
Eventually the pain and heartbreak become too much for her to cope with and Shanti finds the courage to leave him. Ryan cannot cope with the loss and rejection of her love and his family. He becomes consumed with paranoia, jealousy and hate. As anger rages within him, he goes in search of Shanti and his actions on this fateful day lead to terrible consequences not just to his life but that of those closest to him.
Again the storyline was one that could be related with and I commend the writer and the Producer for the concept and the Director and cast for bringing to live a heartfelt storyline that encompassed societal issues as abuse, envy, love etc. without compromising the storyline much.
However, I would not be doing my job as a critic and reviewer if I don’t mention some points. In the movie, there was a storyline about a teenage pregnancy which was left unresolved and concluded abruptly. Although, one of the characters was meant to come speak to the sister of the affected teenager and was eventually raped, while we were told that the lady dropped the case of rape which is a conclusion of that part of the story, the issue of the teenage pregnancy died a natural death leaving people to wander what happened. As a reviewer and critic, I do not see what the point of that scene was and I think if the storyline was not concluded, it should have been left out.
Also, I was concerned that the lady that was raped did not press charges. To me in spite of the fact that I know in reality, this happens a lot and people suffer for life the consequences of rape, I would either have not included that part of the storyline or reported it and made Ryan suffer the consequences by going to prison and coming out again and build the story further. To me the message there was that rapists could walk away free and the lady suffers and I think the message as was conveyed in the end should have been do the crime and pay the price and that crime does not pay.
I trained as a lawyer so I am familiar with procedures and processes regarding the legal field and as such I become very critical if things are not done properly. At the end of the movie, Ryan was arrested and charged to court. Although we are not told which court it was, one could presume from the wig and gowns worn and the length of the sentence he got (17 years) that it was either the Crown Court or Old Bailey as the Magistrate Court does not have such jurisdiction.
My concerns were two folds. Firstly, the wigs and gown worn by the Judge and Barristers were not anything like the real thing. This can even be seen from the picture at the beginning of this review. Secondly, in either of these courts, even when a plea is taken talk not of when sentence is to be pronounced, the accused person is in the dock and not next to their Barrister and if found guilty would be led down straight to be detained otherwise people would overpower guards and just escape from court.
As a critic and reviewer, I am of the solid opinion that your storyline must be real and believable. If there were any Barristers, Solicitors or even law students in the audience or if any would watch this in future, they would laugh. If Eastenders can build special effects and create their own props and it looks like an area in London, as an evolving industry, if we are to compete and beat Hollywood, we need to start being creative. We could design a courtroom and it would look like the real thing and make the story more authentic.
Alternatively, in these days of computer magic, I believe a good Cinematographer could have done something that would make us the viewers believe the accused was in a dock.
Apart from these points, I don’t have more to say on the storyline.
Cast: The movie boasted of John Remedy, Tolulope Yesufu, Abigail Irving, Princess Abiye Tobin-Spiff Okusanya, Van Vicker, Posh Dee, Collins Archie Pearce, Kelly Umezurike, Cordelia Emeh, Nkem Umezurike, Vee Nick, Olukunle Samuel Fafowora, Judith Okonkwo, and more. The movie was Directed by Nkem Umezurike
In this review, I would particularly like to make mention of two people who actually played lead namely John Remedy and Tolulope Yesufu. I saw John in a movie about three weeks ago and was full of praises for him. This is the second movie that I am seeing him and in my opinion, he nailed the role he was given. Apart from looking at the role he was playing, I looked a bit deeper and saw someone with passion for acting and for the industry and also a professional that was willing to do whatever it took to play his role and play it well. If he stays focussed and does not let popularity get into his head, I see him in the next few years as being one of the top new breed actors in the industry and winning accolades,
Now to Tolulope Yesufu, I have seen her in a series of movies and one thing I have noticed throughout is consistency. She takes the role that she is given, interprets it and tries to make the best of it. That again she did well in this movie. She was passionate in the love scenes and was very believable. All I can say to Tolu is keep working hard and do not relent in what you are doing, make your next project better than the last and you would go places.
I must also commend some of the people I call veterans and people who work tirelessly to help build the Nollywood UK industry for supporting this movie by agreeing to cast in what I call “special appearance roles”. Would like to commend HRH and Chief Theodora and Ayo Oyebade as well as Collins Archie Pearce. You experience and love for this industry would help encourage the upcoming stars in the industry.
In this movie, I would also like to recognise upcoming talents like Posh Dee, I would like to encourage you to continue doing what you are doing and stay focused and I look forward to seeing you soon in a lead role.
Whilst, I have picked on these few people, there was also some bad acting. I would like to re-iterate that I am not witch hunting or picking on people, but this industry is now becoming competitive and new talents are being discovered every time and if one wants to stay in this industry, they need to be on top of their game. I think the gentleman that played Michael and his companion in the office for example were too scripted. This is meant to be a movie and not like an exam where lines are crammed. The audience need to be convinced of the role that is being played and I am sorry, in their case I was not. Hope to see them in future movies carrying me along and convincing me.
Having said all these, let me congratulate the entire cast and crew as I know it is not easy to learn lines talk not of acting those lines so well done for a successful production.
Picture Quality: From the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie, I was very happy with the quality of the pictures. I commend the Director of Photography for a job well done. No critics about the pictures. To say the least, they were clear as clear could be. I cannot remember seeing blurred images and I stand to be corrected.
Sound Quality: Whilst the picture quality was good, unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the sound quality. There was a lot of buzzy sounds from the beginning of the movie till the end. However, in spite of these interference, one could still hear what the cast were saying. I think post production would have sorted this problem out.
Overall performance: Generally, in spite of the issues that I have raised, I think the movie was a good one overall. Not perfect but good and I believe that in future, the producer Abigail would look at some of my concerns and address them in future productions.
I would like to commend the Director Nkem Umezurike, the Producer Abigail Irving and the entire cast and crew for a job well done. The question remains if I would recommend this movie. As a reviewer and critic, although I have mentioned some of my concerns, I would definitely recommend this movie.
Watch the trailer:
