It is always joy and happiness when you come across a good movie that gives you the satisfaction you have been wishing for. Africa is known for telling stories through our movies mostly around culture, traditions, love and lifestyle. Movies that have to do with special units, detectives and operatives solving problems normally come from Hollywood.
The makers of the series “Crime and Justice Lagos” seem to have taken some notes from the play books of their Hollywood counterparts. Unlike the usual Nigeria movies, “Crime and Justice Lagos” shows the SSCU (a special unit of the Police) through their lead operatives solve crime as well as test the justice system.
Director Mak Kusare wants you to believe that movies of the crime genre can be made in Nigeria. Paying attention to the Episode one of the series, Mak Kusare ventures into uncovering crimes being committed by some secret societies. Through the lead operatives of the SSCU, SP Kelechi (Folu Storms) and SP Danny (Jammal Ibrahim) we follow the trail of a crime to the doors of a secret society.
In the first few minutes of the episode, a high profile member of the secret society is murdered in his hotel room. Was it a robbery gone wrong? Is it the case of a ritual murder? are some of the questions going through the minds of operatives SP Kelechi and SP Danny as they set out to find the perpetrators.
After interrogating a few suspects, SP Kelechi, SP Danny and the other operatives of the SSCU are faced with the burden of prove. Their work became more difficult after operative Danny had and attempt on his life by unknown men. Will this scare stop them? Only time will tell.
You can’t discuss the first episode of “Crime and Justice Lagos” without commending the great job done by the director of photography Yinka Edward. The creative planning of the compositions, the shot sizes, the camera movements and the framing made the movie a delight to watch.
Though the story of “Crime and Justice Lagos” is similar to a lot of stories we have seen from filmmakers in Hollywood, it still deserves your attention due to how it was owned by Mak Kusare. The dialogue was written with the local dialect and pronunciations in mind. You can’t also overlook the setting which cleverly portrayed the real situation on the ground.
On another note you can’t just miss the appearance of the operatives who were in all white suits during the gathering of evidence for the murder. This is a crime scene not an outbreak of a deadly disease that is going to kill everyone (lose the white suit). Another issue that is below the belt for me, is the ‘gun firing’ scenes. Mak Kusare will have to take a page from the books of great action filmmakers in Hollywood.
