ONYE EGWU (SPORTS-THEMED DRAMA COMEDY REVIEW)
Uche Jombo debuts her movie on Prime Video with this beautiful piece, albeit it was first released in November of 2023. Quite a breath of fresh air this is, as far as Nollywood is concerned (in my opinion).
This sports-themed drama comedy depicts a storyline exploring the challenges faced by both upcoming and established footballers alongside the intricacies in their individual families.
..........................................................................
SYNOPSES
On the one part is a renowned football star, Alex Mbanefo A.K.A Onye Egwu (portrayed by Zubby Michael), who finds himself at a crossroads in his career. He faces an imminent challenge to make a tough decision for an early retirement due to multiple injuries from the game of football as advised by his doctor.
Alex would then be seen in utter confusion as he starts to run helter skelter like a headless chicken looking for solutions to his problems following a hint from his sister that he may have been spiritually put into a bottle by his baby mama (played by BBN’s Simply Tacha).
Then, on the flip side of the movie, is a young, promising, skillful player, Nedu (Kayode Ojuolape), also popularly called Onye Egwu(named after Alex’s alias). Nedu is equally fraught with the obstacle of financial difficulties as he can not as little as afford soccer shoes.
He also is bedevilled with home troubles as his mother Ngozika (Uche Jombo herself) struggles to offer her support for his ambitions to become an international footballer because she fears she cannot meet up footing the bills of a football academy to enable him follow his dreams.
On yet another side of the story, is Uduak whose mother, Eno (portrayed by Ini Edo), is a troublesome, pugnacious woman who would move heaven and earth to ensure her son reaches his zenith in the world of football even when she knows clearly that he isn’t as talented as Nedu. Eno doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty in the process.
As events unfold, fate would then find a way to cause these different worlds to collide so much so that the two Onye Egwus cross paths. What would become of their careers? And how does this play out for everyone involved?
..........................................................................
MOVIE REVIEW
Onye Egwu(the movie) was super interesting, hilarious, and relatable to watch. It embodies a fresh narrative in the Nollywood industry. The subplots were brilliantly weaved together, superbly so.
Although initially, it somewhat seemed like Nedu was a younger version of Alex, it became clearer much later, and then I knew otherwise. Now, that is a pretty good richness of storytelling, isn’t it?
Furthermore, it was fascinating to see Zubby Michael play a calm and emotional role away from his usuals, which are mostly characterised by violent, ‘bad-boy’ elements. He did justice to the role. It was absolutely believable.
This movie did remind me what it felt like watching Nollywood of the late 90s and early-to-mid-2000s with the ‘man locked in a bottle’ feature. Veteran actors RMD, Clems Ohameze, and Tony Umez played these roles at different times.
Slightly touching on domestic violence on men, this movie, however, did not explore this aspect to a great extent. Eno was emotionally abusive to her husband, and it appeared like she got away with it.
I loved the comic part brought on by William Uchemba, Lateef Adedimeji, and Broda Shaggy. Nevertheless, it seemed like one was watching Shaggy’s skits on YouTube. But hey! Isn’t that why people like him? Chioma Chukwuka did great too as usual, but it appeared like her acting prowess was underutilised (in my opinion).
That said, this movie was overly star-studded. As a result, the producers had too many power-houses than they knew what to do with. A-listers turned out to play one-off scenes, which could have done a world of good for ‘waka-pass actors’ and the quality of the film would still have remained intact if not better.
I found the too many popular faces distracting for me because at some point, I forget what a particular actor was meant for. The likes of Lilian Esoro, Ufuoma McDermont…??
Sound was a bit underwhelming. However, picture quality, props, and makeup were good.
The movie kind of felt rushed in the end especially from when Nedu snuck out of the house to go play with the team against his mother’s instructions, Ngozika’s sudden change of demeanour and immediate spontaneous jubilation was sort of swift. Well, I guess mothers get easily carried away for the love of their kids.
Overall, the actors did a great job in the interpretation of roles. Storytelling was convincingly refreshing. Ini Edo’s acting gave life to the movie in more ways than one. I loved that Ibibio/Efik accent and the parts she featured in, even though her character was most times annoying.
Following from the above, I’ll recommend this at a 7/10.
..........................................................................
I hope that this was interesting to read. Thanks for coming around.