MOVIE REVIEW: ‘To Kill a Monkey’; Chaotic yet gritty tale of crime, betrayal

Cast: William Benson, Bucci Franklin, Stella Damasus, Bimbo Akintola, Ireti Doyle, Chidi Mokeme, Lilian Afegbai, Teniola Aladese

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Director: Kemi Adetiba

Two significant things happened within days of each other in the Nigerian cyberspace recently.

Famous TikTokker, Peller, advertised for a personal photographer with a Master’s degree and was flooded with requests.

Peller’s embarrassing post about the event caused many to question the essence of education, despite his being uneducated.

Days later, Afrobeats artiste, Adekunle Gold, chose to honour those who can prove that they graduated from the university with a first-class.

While seemingly isolated, both instances drummed up discourse on academic excellence and its relevance in today’s Nigeria.

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They also contribute to the timeliness of the eight-part series, ‘To Kill a Monkey’.

Plot

Efemini, or simply Efe (William Benson), is down on his luck and is operating at the lowest rung of society, if there is anything like that.

Despite graduating with good grades, his condition is so pitiful that he is the butt of office jokes.

His boss once told him, “God no like you”.

Amid all the hardship and the embarrassment it comes with, he meets a long-time school acquaintance, Oboz (Bucci Franklin).

Known as The Bozz, Oboz is the direct opposite of what Efe is.

His success can be smelled from a mile away, with all the drip it comes with; fancy clothes, a convoy of exotic cars and, of course, his goons.

Unlike Efe, Oboz is a university dropout who has found success in cybercrime.

After a series of back-and-forths, Efe uses his tech skills to upgrade Oboz’s operations, which gives birth to what became known as the Monkey Case.

Along came Teacher (Chidi Mokeme), an old taker who believes he is entitled to a share of Efe and Oboz’s new operation.

**Teacher (Chidi Mokeme), in To Kill a Monkey**

And then there is Inspector Mo Ogunlesi (Bimbo Akintola), who has to navigate the trauma of losing her husband and kids in a car crash and convince her superiors that she has a lead in the case.

What started as a drive-by progressed into explosions, and the body count began to rise as Inspector Mo closed in on the gang.

Review

‘To Kill a Monkey’ is a series with many sub-themes.

From romance to betrayal and family over money, viewers are in for a rollercoaster of emotions.

While this makes it an enjoyable watch, the subplots may also be a distraction as viewers struggle to keep up with the different facets of the series.

In the movie, Oboz is attacked under heavy gunfire. That was a few hours after Efe’s child was locked in a freezer.

As the gritty series progresses, viewers will see the underdealings pointing to one fact: everybody is guilty.

While ‘To Kill a Monkey’ intensely portrays the activities of fraudsters in Nigeria, nothing prepares viewers for the emotional cross-carpeting that will take place in the film.

While all the actors can be said to have brought their A-game, the ladies killed their roles. Particularly, Stella Damasus, who plays Nosa, Efe’s wife, Lilian Afegbai (Idia) and Bimbo Akintola (Inspector Mo)

READ ALSO: MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Ms Kanyin breathes new life into ‘Madam Koikoi’ myth

However, despite its acclaim, ‘To Kill a Monkey’ doesn’t stand out from other movies in its genre.

While we can never have enough movies that expose the activities of fraudsters, in Nigeria, which has had global economic and diplomatic repercussions, the movie, maybe not deliberately, latches onto the continued stereotyping of the people of Edo and Delta states as fraudsters.

Also, the series embodies Kemi Adetiba’s signature overdramatisation, which gave us ‘King of Boys’ (2hrs 49 mins) and its sequel, which was initially planned as a movie but was made into a television series.

For instance, a premise has yet to be established and has been discussed in three episodes.