Uche Jombo‘s latest movie, Onye Egwu, recently debuted on Prime Video. With a promising premise that follows a young football player striving to be discovered and a football star nearing the end of his career, our curiosity was piqued. This film offers a fresh perspective for Nollywood, and it’s always intriguing to see something new. Here’s our take on it.

Plot

The plot is well-crafted, exploring football through two different lenses: a player nearing the end of his career and another trying to start his own. The story is balanced and follows a natural flow. However, towards the end, when Nedu’s mother quickly switches from opposing his playing to supporting him after discovering he snuck out to join the game, it feels rushed and undermines the buildup of her opposition.

Story

We appreciate that football serves as the connecting thread of this story. It’s a passion for many Nigerians, yet we don’t see many movies about it. Even though we followed two separate lives, the narrative was easy to track, and while the ending was predictable, the journey was engaging enough to maintain our interest.

However, the film fell short of fully exploring Alex’s struggle with a career-ending injury. In one of the final scenes, he gets emotional while talking to the press about the end of his career, but nothing in his story before that made this emotional display meaningful.

Performances

With an ensemble cast, the performances in Onye Egwu were a mixed bag. Many actors stuck to their usual typecasts, but there were some standouts.

Broda Shaggi played a prominent role as Kabiru, but his performance felt repetitive and overplayed. Debo Adebayo (Mr. Macaroni) and Tolulope ‘Remote’ Olayiwola had minor comedic appearances that felt overdone. Eric Emeka, who played Uduak, was unconvincing in his role, and Lateef Adedimeji’s Segun was the same character he had portrayed several times before.

Ini Edo’s role as Eno was not new territory, but we enjoyed her performance nonetheless.

Zubby Micheal’s portrayal of Alex was refreshing as it departed from his usual roles. Emeka Nwagbaraocha delivered a great performance as Ahanna, and Kayode Ojuolape did a good job as Nedu. We also enjoyed Uche Jombo’s portrayal of Ngozika. While Tacha Akide gives a sub-par performance as Tina.

Technical Aspects

The audio was disappointingly low, often making it difficult to hear the dialogue over the louder background music. On a positive note, the overall film look matches the genre, and the film was nicely shot. The visual effect of Onyeegwu’s picture in a bottle during a prayer at the beach appeared amateur.

Final Thoughts

The film effectively draws parallels between Uduak and Nedu’s upbringings—one mother is supportive, the other isn’t. Being a Uche Jombo film, the usual suspects filled the cast, but this did not detract from the story. The film effectively portrayed the parallel between Alex and Nedu, representing the beginning and end of their respective careers

For a film about football, we would have loved to see more football.

Verdict

‘Onye Egwu’ may caters to the typical Nigerian audience with its comedy, However, the film fell short on the emotional side; many scenes meant to tug at heartstrings missed the mark. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable watch, earning a 2.5/5 rating from us.

Rating: 2.5/5