After the release of his comedy drama “BAD COMMENTS” on Prime Video on the 1st of December, 2020, Executive Producer Jim Iyke has now released his two-part crime thriller titled “Sin” which is an Amazon original.

While the first part subtitled “First Blood” is now currently streaming as released on the 24th of July, 2025, the second part is billed to be released on the 22nd of August, 2025. The film is directed by Yemi ‘Filmboy’ Morafa and Dimeji Ajibola (posthumous). 

This particular review is focused on the first part. 

SYNOPSIS: (MAY contain spoilers)

Olajide Shina ‘Jide’ (Yemi Blaq), a multibillionaire businessman has just been arrested by the NDEA in front of his wife, associates and staff during the grand opening of Club Sin. His wife Tosin (Toni Tones) is subsequently caught up in the middle of a whole hullabaloo as she’s forced by Mr. Black (Jim Iyke) & his boys to push a new drug – NOVA to the market; blackmailed with threats of harm to herself and kids.

MY TAKE:

Straight up, this movie stressed me throughout. I can’t even pretend about it and I’m not mincing words. For some reason, I did not have too much of a high expectation but the little hopes I had were dashed as this turned out to be frustratingly underwhelming and disappointing. 

Where should I even begin?

Although the message that this film tries to push is the war against illegal drugs trafficking, money laundering and the corruption in the police force as its target or focus, its execution is one that however takes you on a rollercoaster of a dizzying confusion which continues to melt into a bore scene after scene. The plot was sadly saddled with too much going on that it lost its savour with too many distracting elements thereby becoming bland for a viewer like myself.

See, there was too much happening at the same time that everything seemed to be everywhere all at once. The plot was all over the place. The story as well as the characters were poorly developed. We just see actors after actors after actors surfacing one after another. Not sure if there was adequate planning for this as it seemed pretty much like “lights, camera, action” and boom everyone is saying and acting whatever comes to their minds in response to the other person. There were prolonged scenes with excessive dialogues that gives cause for a loud yawn. To think the producer mentioned that there were over 2,000 persons involved in this project just makes one wonder.

Now, as star studded as this film is, it had no business having an actor who was struggling to deliver his role to begin with. Who was that actor in the first act of the film who played the role of the family lawyer? His acting was subpar. In fact, how many family lawyers does Jide have? This is because we would later see Uzee Usman playing the lawyer for him with Jide under police custody awaiting trial. Did they fire the former one? We don’t know. Well, Jide is a billionaire so maybe he has multiple lawyers working for him. This was however not established.

From the get-go of the film, there were very annoyingly unnecessary scenes. What in the world of audacity was that nudity? The naked girl with the exposed boobs was for what exactly? The fact that it’s a drug-related film doesn’t mean we needed to see all that? 

Speaking of another infuriating aspect of this film is the role of Chimezie Imo as TJ. Firstly, I do not see the need for his character in the film (maybe the next part will utilise the award winning actor better and tell us what we need to know but for this one, I can’t see the impact of his role as TJ – Tosin’s brother here). Secondly, TJ’s frolicking & making out with a call girl and all that disgusting shenanigans that went down in the club toilet, what exactly does that add to the already tiring & staggering plot?

Please don’t even give me the “oh we’re adults and the film is rated 18” bladi blaaaa line. True, but events have to be interconnected in a movie to make it believable and engaging, right? That scene was absolutely UNNECCESSARY, downright irritating and came out from no where! Moreso, it was evidently obvious that the runners of the show were trying so hard…in fact, too hard to give us a ‘Hollywood standard’ for a movie. See, we don’t need to compete with Hollywood to produce a compelling film. Authenticity, originality and credibility is what we want. The African style of storytelling is ours to tell, own and embrace. Even a Hollywood film if not properly made would be highly frowned upon talk less of one which tries too hard to imitate.

The movie in my opinion is disjointed. The storytelling is as inconsistent as the intermittent multiple voice overs (VOs) from multiple people in the film. The first voice over at the opening scenes is a total turn off as it wasn’t particularly pleasing to listen to. As the film progressed, we get different VOs from different characters that I find myself wondering what was going on. It was distracting. Who was exactly telling the story?

The introduction of the Interpol ladies – Agent Bishop & Agent Jean was as impromptu as the flashback of one of the agents. Speaking of flashbacks, what in the name of stunts was that tussle? The choreography there can only pass for a school drama rehearsal at best! C’omon! Don’t even get me started with the shootout outside of the courthouse? What in the world of Jean Claude Van Damme, Vin Diesel, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Steven Seagal, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, John Travolta, Nicholas Cage & Arnold Schwarzenegger parody was all that? Please make it make sense!

Should we talk about the cinematography? 

Maybe we should blame it on the gaffer but the lighting seemed poor as the picture quality was dark almost throughout. Editing itself isn’t the very best. The camera person seemed to have been fiddling with some settings in the camera. What was that spin for? 

We saw names at the opening credit that we never saw in the film. Where on earth is Chidi Mokeme, Shaffy Bello & Patrick Doyle in this movie? Okay let’s just say they’ll appear in the second part of the film. But wouldn’t that just make for a more disorganised plot? I mean, what aspect of this first part will they fit into? The Consortium? Well, maybe Chidi Mokeme would be Joseph Idalo, the suspected kingpin of the consortium whom Mr. Black is working for. But he should have at least been introduced to us in this part as a mysterious figure, don’t you think?

This film lacked real suspense and intrigue. All it gave was confusion wrapped in too many actors than the directors knew what to do with. What was Gideon Okeke’s role here as Leo? His impact wasn’t felt as much as I had hoped. 

Title of the movie: 

“The Consortium” was mentioned so much in this film that I feel they mis-titled this one. The title of the movie should have been “THE CONSORTIUM” instead, in my opinion. This reminds me of the movie “Betrayed” featuring Uche Montana where “SERENDIPITY” was mentioned so much so that I thought that should have been the title of the movie. Also, ahead of its release, we’re told that the subtitle for this first part is “First Kill” But upon its release, I’m surprised to see it as “First Blood” on Prime Video. What happened? We don’t know. Or am I missing something vital?

Performance: 

What was all that swearing & cuss words by Toni Tones? “…my effing kids!” Really? Seriously? That wasn’t necessary to be honest! She is a phenomenal actress but her delivery in this film did not do it for me. Speaking of inconsistencies, Jide asked for a divorce as the first thing he did after being apprehended and arrested. Next thing, Tosin changes her last name as she starts to bear Ms Ajala as opposed to Mrs. Shina. Is that how quick divorce proceedings take place in Nigeria? Now, when she appears in Chude Jideonwo’s and Toke Makinwa’s shows, she says she filled for the divorce. Was she lying or was it an oversight in the script? In fact, we didn’t even need the presence of those show hosts in this film. Furthermore, in the scene where we first see Mr. Black, did Tosin not see Mr. Black’s men at the top of her stairway? The house was dark? Yes, but it wasn’t pitch black! Come to think of it, why did Mr. Black even need Tosin to do all those work for him?

Not sure what went wrong but the scene where that misogynistic man was insulting Tosin, we saw sparks & blood splash even before the bullets were fired by Kenneth Nwadike’s character. I can’t get over how Charles Okocha only played a cameo that at the end of this part, I forgot he was ever in the film!

CONCLUSION:

This movie had huge prospects especially given the cast line up but it however failed to deliver. Nevertheless, a viewer like myself, curious in my element is earnestly waiting for the second part. Maybe, just maybe, all the loose ends would be tightened, longing questions answered and loopholes corrected by then. 

Well, until then, all I can say is that this part leaves a lot to be desired. The story is clear but not entirely new nor fresh as it offers nothing outstanding nor bring anything new to the table. Performances were not compelling, plot was disjointed, editing was not solid, storytelling wasn’t consistent. Were the makers of this film not trying too hard to do much to impress, this would perhaps have had a better outcome.

Verdict: 3.5/10

Have you seen this? What did you think?