[blockquote align=”centre” author=”EfikoScore: 7.1/10″ style=”font-size: 30px”] With ornate schemes and smart, sometimes unclear, plot twists, Niyi Akinmolayan makes a film that lives up to its name. [/blockquote]
Niyi Akinmolayan, the man behind the underwhelming Chief Daddy and The Wedding Party films, makes amends in this one. In this film, we see what a solid screenplay can make possible.
There are too many characters that matter in this film. So, it’s hard to single out one or two around whom the plot (more accurately, plots) revolves. That would mean listing five different characters at least. But let’s begin with the two that we are first introduced to.
That’s Chike (Adesua Etomi) and Grace (Kehinde Bello). Chike rescues Grace, whose parents were willing to ship off to Italy, and it is not to view the Renaissance art. It is for that sordid reputation that Italy has assumed in the Nigerian consciousness: sex trafficking. That was years ago. The next time we see the female duo, they have settled well into a life of crime-sponsored wealth. They are drug mules for a cartel and are quite successful at it.
After twenty successful runs, the NDLEA are finally on the brink of arresting the women. A mysterious woman tips them off in time, but not before slipping them a calling card. In this world of crime, nothing goes for nothing. That woman (Tina Mba) is addressed by that generic name common to rich and powerful Nigerian women: Madam. The film is about rich and powerful women, in fact. There are at least six of them, including Chike and Grace. Even the American agency that will come to play a role in the subsequent parts of the film is headed by a woman. The feminist statements are unmistakable.
Chike and Grace join Madam’s crime syndicate, which comprises only womenfolk, resembling the women’s-only Amazon Isles in that Wonder Woman comic book universe. Seeing how female-centric her organisation is, one may be tempted to think it is a psychological response to a previous battering suffered at the hands of a man. A kind of congealed misandry. That Madam’s nemesis turns out to be a woman — more than one, in fact — is only one of the film’s surprises. And there are a lot of surprises.
Madam’s organisation gets into business with Edem (Jim Iyke) and together they scheme to hoodwink a heiress Motunrayo (Dakore Akande) for a reason that will not become clear until much later. Many things in this film do not become clear until much later.
The film throws us a bone and we understand that Madam and Eden are on a quest for revenge. But it is one that will have Chike and Grace fight for survival.
This is a film about loss, as much as it is about friendship, and revenge, and illusion. The characters, as well as the viewers, are being conned in every scene. There are plot twists at every corner, each of them contradicting what you think you know of a character’s nature and motives. Coupled with the liberal time jumps that the story makes, some of these turns might be hard to follow. But paying attention to them would prove ultimately rewarding. There is no point where action is lacking or the story drags.
With cleverly plotted twists and smart schemes, The Set Up is exciting from start to finish.
