Movie Title: Jolly Roger
Duration: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Cast: Kunle Oshodi-Glover, Kunle ‘Frank Donga’ Idowu, Toyin Oshinaike, Daniel Etim Effiong, Deyemi Okanlawon, Tope Tedela, Toni Tones and Tina Mba
Director: Walter ‘Waltbanger’ Taylor
Release Date: March 11, 2023
Since the inception of Nollywood, Nigerian films have always been a means of highlighting various social issues.
Whether it’s 2018’s Oluture, which explored the theme of prostitution, or 2023’s The Trade, which is based on true incidents involving a famous kidnapper, these films have become a mainstream trend among producers.
The latest addition to Nollywood’s socio-centric catalog is the 2022 Nolly Noir crime thriller Jolly Roger, directed by Walter ‘Waltbanger’ Taylaur, the creative mind behind the popular crime comedy film Gbomo Gbomo Express.
Jolly Rogers is similar to the plot of the American crime thriller trilogy John Wick. The film, recently released on Netflix, follows a man, Brume (Daniel Etim Effiong), who sets out to kidnap two corrupt police officers, Flexi (Kunle ‘Frank Donga’ Idowu) and Yaw (Toyin Oshinaike), with the help of her best friend, Dammy (Deyemi Okanlawon). So, he disguises himself as an internet scammer, goes to a checkpoint, and finally manipulates them into going home with him. Upon arriving at his place, the officers were drugged.
Later scenes show the policemen being tortured along with flashbacks to the events leading up to the present. It is revealed that Brume was married to the love of her life, Najite (Toni Tones). Unfortunately, her inability to get pregnant and the interference of Brume’s mother (Tina Mba) cause a rift between the couple. Things soon turn rosy when she becomes pregnant. A happy Brume is heartbroken when she later reveals that he is not her father.
Revelation Night is when she is killed by the two policemen held hostage by Brume.
pirate flag
A few minutes into the movie, Jolly Roger can quickly be described as your typical cliché revenge story. We see a man who hopes to avenge the death of his wife. While the effort to use a relatively new narrative to explore the central theme of police brutality is applaudable, it wasn’t enough to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Plot elements were predictable, including the surprising twist that Brume’s best friend and accomplice was the man his wife cheated on him with. To be honest, things would have been more interesting if the writers had included amazing twists. For example, we could have had an alternate story where instead of Dammy getting Najite pregnant, it was one of the cops who raped her a few months ago. Najite would be unable to recognize her face until the night she and Brume met, and then, with her dying breath, she would make the shocking revelation to Brume. This offers a wow factor and makes Brume’s motif more intense and justifiable.
There also needed to be a more varied delivery of lines and a minimization of characters. Some Brume lines lacked weight; they failed to portray the strong effect the writer probably intended. In terms of downplaying, the portrayal of the cops as villains was incredible. They could have gone in a more ruthless and unsympathetic direction. It was hard to sympathize or hate them because they were underdeveloped, and this, in a way, lowered the stakes.
Another bad characterization is that of Dammy, Brume’s best friend. The introduction and some flashbacks show him as a good friend. Suddenly we are expected to believe that he is someone who betrays his friend for no good reason or easily collapses with a solid logical thought process when the captured officers offer him the whopping sum of 50 million.
All of the above does not take away from the excellent casting options. Tina Mba, the educated but ignorant mother-in-law, is great, Toni Tones as Najite is a breath of fresh air from her badass roles, and Daniel Etim Effiong as Brume is perfect.
To conclude, what sets Jolly Roger apart from other movies is the choice to tell police brutality through a romantic lens.
final verdict
6/10. It is somewhat original and had some scenes that caught my attention.
Jolly Roger is now streaming on Netflix.