‘Merry Men 2’, the second installment of Ayo Makun’s action franchise recently joined Netflix’s increasing list of Nollywood titles.
This movie offers a definable plot for a change, attractive grading, and impressive cinematography, it also does not offer the dignity of a well-developed story.
While Netflix’s acquisition came as no surprise (the franchise is an undisputed box office giant despite its disenchanting storylines), the second release is an unequivocal upgrade.
Ramsey Nouah as Ayo Alesinloye and Jim Iyke as Naz in ‘Merry Men 2’ [YouTube]
The Moses Inwang directed comedy reintroduces the merry men-Ramsey Nouah, Jim Iyke, Folarin ‘falz’ Falana and Ayo Makun, pitted against a gang of not so fear-inspiring, bike riding, tank top and leather jacket-wearing assassins who must help an indicted government official escape justice in exchange for their kidnapped loved ones.
With ‘Merry Men 2′, it is obvious that the franchise producer listened to advise.
The instalment offers not just an improvement in its plot development, grading, and cinematography, a visible level of work was put into the development of, for instance, the fight scenes.
However, what ‘Merry Men 2’ does not offer is the dignity of a well-developed story. Arguably, its writer gunned for an excessively comical action film but the result simply fell short of some expectations with its incessant use of witless humour and loose end conflicts.
Ufuoma Mcdermott and Regina Daniels in ‘Merry Men 2’ [PM News]
Real-life comedians need not play themselves in films. If they must, their cliche phrases should at least be exterminated. It simply betrays the story’s lack of originality and does not do so well for humour either.
At some point, William Uchemba might need to purge his space of scripts with characters that portray him as a high flying simpleton with an amazing sense of style. As is the case with Kayode Kasum’s ‘Sugar Rush’, Uchemba’s supporting role is one not to be taken with any level of seriousness but for its comical value.
Moses Inwang is notorious for developing lacklustre characters. His leading men, Ramsey Nouah and Jim Iyke may have learnt to bring on their inner Spielbergs but this, unfortunately, leaves the rest of the cast to drown in unmemorable performances. The only other exception being Doyle and her impressive delivery of an Igbo speaking character.
So while the movie is a grandiose yet promising show of a future for Nollywood in the action genre, this experiment drowns in slapstick humour. It is difficult to say if this is a good or bad thing.
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