Cast:

Desmond Elliot, Ashley Nwosu, Mercy Johnson,

Benedict Johnson, Fred Arico, Ufuoma Ejenebor,

 Barbara Okogie

Director:

Willie Ajene and Frank Utaka

Story:

Willie Ajene

Producer:

Eneome Christian

Directors of Photography: Waheed Adeogun, Femi Olushola and Kester Onuigbo

Editor:

Nelson Joe

Music:

Nelson Joe, Sharkskin

This movie could best be described as a farce. It cannot even go for a comedy of error; it is that bad – story-wise, and to a large extent, screenplay.

Then, the whole dramatics in disc one can conveniently fit into a well utilised 20 minutes of viewing time.

Film scholars would argue that a motion picture is a suspension of disbelief. On the other hand, literary critics would tell you any work of art that fails to arrest attention till the end is better dropped half way, which is what we did with this movie.

Twist of Fate

opens with a heady student being counseled not to fall into the very wide path to perdition, and in the process it runs back and forth between the play outs of the movie proper and the counseling session.

But it has barely gone a quarter of an hour before glaring errors become noticeable on the scripts; just as bad the language becomes a highpoint in the movie.

It is an affront on one’s senses when a script writer expects one to believe that a chattered accountant would be without a job for between five and six years of continuous search for gainful employment. We think that is wide off the mark, and we welcome any contrary opinion. We strongly believe Nigeria has not come to that rot yet.

It is also a huge let down on the part of an actor of Ashley Nwosu’s standing to commit some grammatical blunders. Imagine him saying, "I have spoken to him" as against the right expression of "I have spoken with him".

That line in itself is not necessary, and exposes the script as a very weak one. Now, the character was right before him when he spoke with the associate he was sending her to, that repetition was needless since she was not supposed to be dumb, after all she is a chattered accountant. Except they are insinuating that she was dumb, which is why with her ICAN she still could not secure a job, however little the remuneration.

Jude commits murder while trying to rob an ambassador, and another person was arrested for the crime. In a moment, the producers gave the name of the felled victim to the police as Ambassador Chibuike Nduka, then in another scene the television announcer gave the name of the victim as Ambassador Kunle Ajayi, what inconsistency!

Acting is way below standard. If this movie is shown to a foreign audience with no of knowledge about Nollywood, we can be certain to get the worst rating ever.

Most of the cast did not act convincingly, very few did though, and the few include Desmond Elliot, Mercy Johnson, Fred Arico and one or two other characters.

There are scenes in the movie that, in our own submission, should not have found their way into the film proper. One of such is the second super market and restaurant scenes. While these scenes were included for reasons best known to the directors, we feel they did give the movie no quality. How the suspect escaped was only reported and not acted for viewers to see.

However, there are a couple of lessons one can take away from the movie. The first is what people could do because of half a million naira. While an okada man chose to call the bluff of his girlfriend because he wanted to claim the money the police put on offer for any useful information that could lead to the suspect’s arrest, one friend knocked off another and tied him up just to give him away to the police as the suspect and collect the money.

Yet, the question is: should an informant be paid or not when his information leads to the discovery of a criminal’s hideout, but due to police incompetence or unprofessional conduct, the suspect escapes?

Well, the movie is apparently shot with some good camera. That is obvious from the clean pictures, though the audio fluctuates and sometimes one strains one’s ears to catch the lines.