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You know when you’ve planned on eating a particular meal you’ve been longing or craving for…as in you highly anticipated relishing the delicacy…like “Walahi…na me and this food today!”
…and then boom, you started eating it, only to realise something is missing in the food…an ingredient that could have given it the WOW-effect! So much so that you couldn’t enjoy the food as much as you had envisaged.
…that’s how this movie “Tokunbo” fellt to me.
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SYNOPSES
Tókunbó(Gideon Okeke) worked for Gazá (Chidi Mokeme), who runs an illegal car dealership business.
Seeing how ruthless, heartless, and brutal Gazá can be, TK(Tokunbo) decides to call it quit with his boss and kiss that line of shady deals goodbye. This was especially so when his wife Lisa gave birth to their baby boy, Chris.
As unpredictable as the future can be, 18 months later, little Chris would then be diagnosed with a heart condition that places him on life support requiring 9 million naira for a surgical intervention.
Being a taxi driver as his means of survival, TK would then seek the help of his friend (Funnybone), a car spare part dealer who couldn’t help raise the money either.
Having no other option, TK would then resort to returning to Gazá to ask for help against a vehement plea from Iyá Muli (Adunni Ade),a woman Gazá turned to his pleasure item; violating her at will
As expected, Gazá refused to help when he clearly could. Instead, he pitches TK to his own boss/business partner unbeknownst to TK.
Using his taxi business as a very last resort, carrying the good, the bad and the ugly…all sorts of passengers, TK would then have a life-changing encounter in his back seat: a handset on the one hand and a captured little girl Nike(Darasimi Nadi) on another who turns out to be the daughter of the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Folashade Adesanya (Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi).
What unfolds later are scenes of betrayal, snitching and TK on a car race against time to deliver a consignment (the little girl) to the captor, his wife and ill baby on the line as he’s being blackmailed.
The questions are: Who is the captor? What does he want in return?
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MY REVIEW
Now while the editing, sound effects, font styling, makeup, costume, sequences and cinematography were really really good (thumbs up to Ramsey Nouah as the director of this blockbuster; a standing ovation for him actually), the choreography however did this movie dirty -big time!
For a movie of this genre, choreography and stunts form one of the key ingredients, right? How towards the very end of the film, during the fight, one minute TK is on the floor, the next, with a rope in his hands, he brings down Gazá like a pack of cards, strangling him till he gags and then boom, Gazá breaks free in the most ludicrous way, choking, still beats me. Shey them de whine me ni!?
Ah-ha! I have some questions:
Firstly, why did the guy who kïdnapped Nike from the pool area not deliver her straight to the captor whom Gazá works with? Why then did they need to involve TK?
Secondly, how was TK able to move to his back seat so swiftly the first time Nike tried to escape? Also for the second sedative jab he gave her, from the way he carried her on his shoulders, I believe it’s pretty much impossible to give a shot of an injection at that region of her lower back.
Thirdly, please make it make sense! How was the almighty captor, I mean, the mastermind behind the kïdnapping, who presented to be such a tough mysterious guy apprehended so cheaply by the Police? That part no gel!
I understand that Aziba, the mole (Ivie Okujaye Egboh), when her cover was blown, led the police to his hideout. But then, I was expecting a massive showdown/shootout between the police and the mysterious captor’s men. He was led away, and his part ended just like that! Something wasn’t adding up.
That was sooooo not believable at all! It was weakening…very underwhelming. Like in my opening statement, the food started to lose its rich goodness from there on as the movie started to taste somewhat bland.
Fourthly, of all names for the antagonist, why did they choose Gazá? Is that an attempt at a reference to some place in the Middle East? Or is it simply a coincidental name?
Lastly, this film had many ingredients to make it a really sumptuous meal for movie lovers like myself. It, however, had its shortcomings. It tried to highlight on the victimisation of witnesses by some members of the police force in the scene where TK’s friend went to report to the police that his friend was being used and then, instead of swinging into immediate action to help the victim, decided to put the witness behind bars. What later became of him sef?
NOW, On the whole...
Apart from the loopholes, this film had some suspense, intrigue, sprinkles of action, a bit of drama, really vivid imaging, and a valuable life lesson along the line of “the enemy lives within!” Aziba, a mole and Raymond (Majid Michel), who was supposed to be a close friend of Folashade’s who turned out shockingly to be a traitor.
I loved Darasimi’s confidence and sense of humor. I will always appreciate Funlola’s acting prowess…she’s got such a demure, such poise, grace and elegance that I admire.
Gideon Okeke particularly embodied the role of Tòkunbò…loved his and Chidi Mokeme’s use of the Nigerian pidgin English.
And of course,Chidi Mokeme; he did his thing as usual; he came through…even though he was a bit annoying in some of his excesses. Man did good!
As far as acting goes, all the actors did a greatly, fantastically impressive job!
I’ll give this an 8/10
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I hope that this was interesting to read. Thank you for coming around.
