Movie Director, Eric Aghimien brings an interesting adrenaline-filled movie, Slow Country to the big screen. There are familiar faces as part of the cast, but there are also a good number of new faces that were introduced to the audience. The movie stars Ivie Okujaye-Egboh, Sambasa Nzeribe, Tope Tedela, Majid Michel, Richard Brutus,Victor Eriabie, Gina Castel, Adebayo Thomas, Imoudu ‘DJ Moe’ Ayonete and Shola Thompson-Adewale.
Slow Country follows the story of Kome (Ivie Okujaye), a homeless teenage mother who resorts to working for a ruthless drug king pin, Tuvi (Sambasa Nzeribe) as a prostitute and trafficker. After seven years in service and with the return of her ex-boyfriend Osas (Tope Tedela), she is ready to call it quits but Tuvi is not ready to let go of his most trusted cash cow.
Review:
Hits From The Movie: For visuals and special effects, Aghimien hits the ground running with special effects as the film opened with a murder scene. As expected, the choreography, props and costume did not disappoint. While it did take time before we saw some more blood, when it finally comes at the end of the film, nothing is held back. From the bomb explosions to the gun duels, Aghimien had a good time playing cops and robbers. The stunts were performed competently and the ammunition looked like the real deal.
For a fairly predictable story, the actors deserve commendation for engaging us with their strong performances. From the desperation in Ivie’s eyes to the timidity in Tedela’s character, we were drawn into their world. Sambasa was also impressive in his role as the villainous Tuvi as it was played to minute details with his vocals, mannerisms and movements. Majid Michel, Richard Brutus and Gina Castel also handle their roles with flair.
The set design for the movie was also amazingly good. From Brasko’s den to Tuvi’s abandoned factory where most of the gun battles took place, the set design was true to life. It is obvious that a lot of work went into the staging of these sets to allow for the seamless flow of action.
Misses From The Movie: Aghimien tried to tell one story too many with the introduction of different sub plots which end up detracting from the main storyline. A lot more work could have been done in the script development to prevent the film from dragging and at times, becoming confusing and hard to follow.
For an action thriller, the pace of the film was quite slow especially in the middle where we were being introduced to different back stories, perhaps, in an attempt to stretch the film. We had to wait till the end for the momentum to pick up which it eventually did.
In terms of believability, some parts of the film called for one to suspend their disbelief and just enjoy the ride. How do you explain the decision of two police cops not to call for back up when going after a ruthless gang? Also, in some scenes where we had gun shots going off, it was still business as usual. You would expect people to be running for their dear lives when chaos breaks. In conclusion, the director/producer, Eric Aghimien did a fantastic job with this compelling action movie. Slow country is in a class of its own as regards action movie genre in Nollywood. It is not only the best action movie in Nollywood but adjudged as so in Arica.
Photo Credit: Getty
