Gangs of Lagos

All types of chaos ensues and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s controlled, it’s driven, it’s well paced all behind a good redemption story. What drives the authenticity is it’s all driven in its native tongue of Yoruba. Plus nothing beats seeing auntie in her asoebi pull out an uzi at a party letting it offfffffff… lets explore Lagos!

Gangs of Lagos follows Obalola a young kid sucked into the crime life after losing both his parents as a baby. He partners up with his best friends and they just try to navigate life best they know living in poverty. Some events take place which ends him in line with top gangsters who then take him and his friends under their wing to teach and expose them to a whole new level of crime. Its such an engaging story with twists and turns. 

A very special shout out to the child actors. Maleek Sanni as young Oba was excellent. Threatening and dominant as a child gangster. Definitely one to look out for in the future. Tobi Bakre plays Obabola, his demeanor as the calm, collected yet violent and dangerous gang leader was supreme. Veteran actress Adesua Etomi takes a back seat in this movie but owns her scenes. With minimal lines she remains commanding in her dialogue. Tayo Faniran and Olarotimi Fakunle play the ying and yang of the movie. Tayo playing Nino the angelic figure who is loved and extolled whilst Timi took on the villainous Kazeem, feared and dreaded big bad role. There was definitely chemistry on set which helped the script and dialogue effortlessly.

This is a high-quality production on the front and back end. Firstly, the decision to have dialogue in Yoruba is perfect. it helped emphasise the tone of the movie. The aggression, the passion, the hostility… “I will kill you” packs more of a punch in Yoruba than it does in English so it was the perfect choice. More content of this level in native tongue is what we want.

The action scenes are top notch. From the cinematography, colours used, settings, choreography and soundtracks.

Cinematography puts us right in it. Right in the thick of Isale Eko. Although the depiction of violence and gore is all fictional you get to feel the essence of Lagos. The culture. The streets littered with traffic, loud noises, big and small businesses. You get to feel that congestion, excitement, and over-elaborate environment. The use of colours here is intentional. When setting up for action and gore it gets real dark. Excessive use of the colour black whilst when its family depiction scenes its very bright and vibrant. The action I was very impressed with. A huge statement to Hollywood to say we can produce without your support. Actual convincing combat. True athleticism from both male and females. The choice to focus on hand to hand combat over the guns was brilliant. They display some really good slugfests. Some big spartan like displays with glaring camera angles on the combatants’ skirmishes. It’s a joy to watch as an action lover if you can look past the shoddy CGI scenes which are not very money. With a soundtrack that features the likes of Naira Marley you could end up joining in the club dance scenes. It was full Naija to the world.

What I liked was the structure to the story. The violence and aggression is not senseless. Its streamlined alongside an intentional sequence of plots which display how the crime world connects to the politician world. Theres an emphasis on religion and spiritual naratives pushing the culture visuals. Talks on how generational curses plague a lot of families and with the family entanglements to heighten the drama made it more personal, it was a good fit. Strong messages around love, betrayal, brotherhood, family and greed, Gangs of Lagos does a good job of keeping you engaged and on the edge of your seat.

We’ve had gangs of London, new York, now Lagos… when is Accra coming out? Do you want to see a sequel to this? Does Oba become president eventually? Did you like this production? React and comment below…