Movie review: Cartel showcases the posh and razz lifestyle of the underworld

Cartel is a Nollywood film that takes ideas from Hollywood’s playbook and blends them with the drama that Nigerian movies are known for.

The movie tells the story of drugs, crime, and violence and showcases how love for family can withstand all of that for survival. It shows how a dangerous cartel was infiltrated by a lady who would do anything to save her brother, who was lost in the web of a syndicate.

It stars Bolanle Ninalowo, Chika Ike, Clarion Chukwurah, Broda Shaggi, Eniola Badmus, and Nkechi Blessing, amongst others.

I earlier said that this movie picked ideas from Hollywood because the cartel concept is something you find in American movies, which is strange to Nigerians. The worst part is that it was not carefully laid out. We shouldn’t be copying Hollywood stories when we have our own culture to showcase to the world. Why can’t we tell the story of agberos and their violence in fights for territory and motor parks? Well, this movie did feature thugs played by Eniola Badmus, Nkechi Blessing and Broda Shaggi. However, the execution was poor and the actors couldn’t deliver anything different from what we’ve seen countless times in Nollywood dramas. They were just too dramatic, thereby delivering nothing real. In a nutshell, Cartel is a blend of the posh underworld lifestyle and the razz part of it.

I dislike that Amanda easily infiltrated the cartel to expose their underworld dealings. I mean, how do you just walk up to a drug lord and tell him you want to be part of his organization, the other organization he keeps from light? That question is enough to get one killed in real life. But in Nollywood, that question got her in and led her to find coca*ne and other incriminating stuff.

The set design is not bad because the directors did well to show us the posh lifestyle of drug dealers e.g. private jets, fast cars, expensive clothing and high-class locations. However, whenever the razz parts of the movie came up, I couldn’t help but feel as if I was watching another film. The acting in those parts transported me back to what Nollywood was like in 2011.

Some parts of this movie showcased good color grading but it didn’t represent Nigeria very well, and I’ll explain. Whenever you see a Hollywood movie with a brief activity in Mexico, the color grading is usually a warm sickly yellow. The representation of Europe is cool, depicting a snowy and cold climate. For Nigeria, the best representation should be what you get from a contrasty REC 709, just as you have it in Half of a Yellow Sun, a Hollywood movie about Nigeria’s civil war. Cartel went for the warm sickly yellow.

Cartel is not a movie I would recommend. I know some people might like it, but when you have a tonne of movies at your disposal, I don’t see how this film can compete for attention. It gets a shaky 5/10.