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…Ní tóri pé “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” released onto Netflix on Friday 23/08/24 felt for me…Oloún…the thing pain me small!
Synopsis: (May contain spoilers)
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 gives birth to their baby boy Chris.
As unpredictable as the future can be, 18months later, little Chris would then be diagnosed with a heart condition that places him on life support requiring 9million naira for a surgical intervention.
Being a taxi driver as his means of survival, TK would then seek the help of his friend (played by 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 (portrayed by 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 (portrayed by Darasimi Nadi) on another who turns out to be the daughter of the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Folashade Adesanya (portrayed by 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?
My Take:
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!
And 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 na David and Goliath parody ni
Ah! 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? Ogáh oooo!
I understand that Aziba, the mole (played by Ivie Okujaye Egboh), when her cover was blown led the police to his hideout. But then, I was expecting a massive showdown/shöotout 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
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 deliciously 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
On the whole, apart from the loopholes, this 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.
Loved Darasimi’s confidence and sense of humour. I will always appreciate Funlola’s acting prowess…she’s got such DEMURE; such poise, grace and elegance that I admire. As far as acting goes, all the actors did a greatly fantastically impressive job!
Gideon Okeke particularly embodied the role of Tòkunbò…loved his and Chidi Mokeme’s use of the Nigerian pidgin English. Gideon has huge potentials…he’ll go far
And of course, my childhood crush, Chidi Mokeme; he did his thing as usual; he came through…even though he was a bit annoying in some of his excesses, he can do no wrong in my eyes
I’ll give this a 7/10
Have you seen this action-thriller? What did you think
