Tha Revue: Hilary ‘The Maveriq’ Ajodo Reviews Nollywood Action Film ‘Slow Country’

Hilary “The Maveriq” Ajodo of tharevue.com (pronounced “the review dot com”) Nigeria’s premier movie review resource for local and foreign movies reviews Nollywood movie Slow Country.

..

Release Date: May 19, 2017
Genre: Action/Drama
Directed By: Eric Aghimien
Producer: Christian Mordi and Eric Aghimien
Music Director; Freeman Okafor
Main Cast: Ivie Okujaye, Sambasa Nzeribe, Tope Tedela and Majid Michel

Slow Country stars Ivie Okujaye as Kome, a single teenage mother who is drawn into a drug trafficking and prostitution ring to give her 7-year-old son the good life. When Kome decides to quit, Tuvie (Sambasa Nzeribe) who runs the ring is unhappy and will stop at nothing to keep his prized asset in his clutches.

This movie was upheld as Nigeria’s most believable action movie and you know what? They were absolutely right! I saw an article calling it the best action film in Africa though that may be a tad bit of an exaggeration but it does not take away from the fact that this was a darn good movie. For one, the action scenes are unlike any we have seen in Nigeria…ever!

They were very Hollywoodesque, with bullets flying and great sound effects that sound natural, unlike the knockout banger effects we are used to. Even the hand to hand combat and torture scenes were very good because they didn’t seem to be simulated and I must specially mention the blood which was splattered all over the place.

I know the movie is supposed to be about Ivie’s character but most of the plaudits should go to Samabasa whose Tuvie character was truly scary and spectacular. His husky voice and volatile temperament juxtaposed with his seemingly unassuming demeanour served to portray him as a really nasty gangster (even though he seemed to overdo it at some point).

On the contrary, I was quite unconvinced with Ivie’s pidgin English which didn’t seem to “flow” really well and Tope Tedala’s character too seemed a little muted. Also, the performance of the two detectives who were on the tail of the notorious gangster wasn’t spectacular with Majid Michel being pretty much ordinary and Victor Erabie whose costume was kind of inappropriate but I guess the intent was to put in some variety, so we will excuse that.

The plot of the movie isn’t one bursting with originality but the execution is what makes it stand out. The actors did a terrific job and everything from lighting to camera angles and sound effects were quite above average. I like the way the humorous aspects of the movie were subtly underplayed with my absolute favourite being the very last scene of the film.

This movie goes to show that with a little hard work, training and attention to detail, Nigeria can do some really good action movies which will help Nollywood evolve from our usual comedy, drama and romance movies. Who knows? We can even start doing watchable sci-fi movies.

Slow Country is gritty and thrilling and I do recommend it especially to Nollywood doubters.