I first knew about the impending arrival of Gangs of Lagos in the first half of 2021. Posters may not have dropped, and a trailer was very much far from the offing, but images of Tobi Bakre, Adesua Etomi, and Chike as the stars had already become mainstream.
As such, anticipation has built for over two years, which became laced with even more intrigue when word got out that it was going to be a staple on Amazon Prime. Gangs of Lagos is the latest Nollywood project to be on the competing Video-on-Demand platforms in Nigeria (Netflix v Amazon), in which there have been works that have veered from different scales of quality and likeability. So, where does this latest one rank?
The Good
Tobi Bakre might be getting boxed in, in the Nollywood scene. This is an industry with a knack for throwing a stereotype towards actors with repeat roles and making it stick, being good at portraying a certain mould is quite a poisoned chalice and may hinder your chance to show you’re good at other kinds of roles. But Bakre is good at the dead-eyed, ruthless, revenge-seeking role, if Brotherhood, at least, is anything to go by, and it’s no different in Gangs of Lagos. The guy who follows orders until he stops following orders. The man with all the traits of a lone wolf, but never fails to look out for his people. Smart, loyal, emotionally-charged, and always ready to dish it out and take it in equal measure. It remains to be seen what this would mean for his future in the industry and being potentially stuck with an archetype. But, right now, he does this role and he does it good.
The fight sequences in Gangs of Lagos do have some authenticity to them, and the sense of chaos they bring makes a point. Sometimes, the gore is overdone, and there can be a disregard for realism and sensitivity with the violent consequences, but if exaggeration is meant to hit home those consequences, it works.
The Bad
Gangs of Lagos is the latest project… that does this shtick of New Nollywood, of showing too much without actually doing anything. It’s the latest Nollywood work where we see acts of violence and unbridled action overshadow weak storytelling. Peek underneath the hackings and the gunshots, and what you see is a glaring emptiness. Gangs of Lagos starts with a backstory of how Oba, Ify, and Gift come to be, and how they get knocked into this life. But it misses on a few fronts. First off, the point of a backstory is to create something that you don’t just understand as the movie progresses, but also something that informs your emotional investment. This movie gives neither, especially since it abandons showing us the past after half an hour and simply goes to just telling us about it, neither of which generate any interest or realism. Then, there’s the fact that, acting and direction-wise, it’s flawed; as for the entire showcasing of the past and the characters as little kids, the only thing worth really holding onto are the words from an adult Oba.
Speaking of acting and directing, a lot of Gangs of Lagos’ dialogue and diction is sorely lacking. Sometimes, the English language lacks street lingo, and veers between inconsequential and facetious. Other times, the Yoruba lacks authenticity, and can be seen as an idiomatic stand-off. Sometimes, the dialogue seems to be created by one who has never seen actual people interact before.
Then, of course, there’s Isale Eko in itself. Like Shanty Town, Gangs of Lagos spends a lot of time telling us that leaving in a certain part of Lagos is horrendous. But here’s the thing, those watching know this. We know that life in the slums and underbellies of rich-looking cities is bad; the point should be why and how: why is it horrendous and under-developed? How does this inform people’s decision-making in the film, and their ambition to leave? We don’t get that. At best, we see an incomplete analysis of life in the slums; at worst, it can be seen as a kind of glorification of the violent way of life and the performance of garishness to survive.
Gangs of Lagos also falls for the trap of popular casting, especially side characters, a trait Nollywood don’t seem ready to knock soon. As such, we don’t so much get memorable characters in films, as we get famous faces re-enacting a role. And this movie is no different.
Some of this movie’s tonal timing is also far from good. Far too often we seem to get moments littered with sober music, except we know very little of what created and preceded those moments to have any sort of emotional investment in it. Case in point: Ify getting someone pregnant and abandoning them doesn’t have any real emotional impact if we barely know of the character that was abandoned, and if it all got resolved in the following scene.
The Ugly
‘Life in Isale Eko is a monster’.
‘In Isale Eko, blood flows’
‘I’m born and bred in Isale Eko’
WE GET IT! That’s not just the point, though.
Conclusion
In simple terms, Gangs of Lagos is very much like the rest of them. A lot of flash that tries to make up for a poorly developed and shabbily written story. A lot of ado with little being done, and a vast emptiness pervading two hours of runtime. We’ve been here before, and there’s a strong chance of us being here again, and if this remains the biggest we have to offer, the bar is quite low.
On About Nothing Rating: 3/10
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