Raji and The Beast kicks off with a chaotic fight scene, leading into a treasure hunt that quickly spirals out of control. Raji (Lateef Adedimeji) and his friend Akpors (Uzor Arukwe) stumble upon a hidden stone by the sea, and from there, everything goes downhill. What should be a gripping chase turns into a long, tedious drag that fails to maintain any real tension.

A Story That Stretches Itself Thin

There’s a basic premise here: two friends find a glowing stone, and trouble follows. But instead of tightening around this discovery, increasing the tension, developing a strong plot, the film fills itself with too much dialogue and too many unnecessary actions. The result is a story that feels padded, like it should have been trimmed or told with more urgency.

The Plot: A Mess of Unnecessary Dialogue and Incoherent Choices

The problem with Raji and the Beast is its inability to keep the plot tight. There’s too much dialogue and not enough action. The dialogue feels redundant, dragging scenes unnecessarily. The film’s pacing falters, and instead of building momentum, it loses steam fast.

The film’s ending is a letdown. Instead of a satisfying resolution, we’re handed a lazy plot twist that’s explained out loud. There’s no subtlety, no surprise. It’s as though the filmmakers think the audience is too dumb to pick up on what’s happening, so they spoon-feed the conclusion.

And just when you think it’s over, the film tacks on a pointless scene about cultural preservation, trying to shoehorn in a theme that wasn’t built up properly throughout the rest of the movie. It feels forced, and it’s the kind of thing that doesn’t belong here.

Character Choices: Lazy Writing

One moment that stands out is Ruth’s (Omowunmi Dada) decision to stop running after a minor injury. Her choice to be left behind makes no sense, especially when Raji and Akpors agree to leave her behind in an unfamiliar land. It becomes obvious that this was a setup to get her captured. The convenience is too neat, too lazy. It undermines whatever tension the story tries to build. It’s a lazy plot device, and you can see it coming from a mile away. The whole thing feels contrived, especially when Ruth is used as bait later on. It’s a poor attempt to move the plot forward.

Performances: Professional But Misguided

Despite the material, the actors try. You can tell they’re doing their best, but it’s clear the script isn’t helping them. It feels like they’re stuck in a bad film, forced to make something work that just doesn’t. While some might argue that they do their job, the poor writing and mismatched casting make it hard for them to shine. It sometimes feels like the actors themselves are aware of how ridiculous the story is. Background actors perform like they’re on stage, with some shots lingering on them unnecessarily.

Lateef Adedimeji and Uzor Arukwe give what looks like professional performances. But the roles demand more physicality than they can deliver.

Technicals That Disrupt Instead of Support

The sound design stands out for the wrong reasons. Effects sound mechanical and artificial. Camera work is inconsistent. Some scenes linger for no reason. The pacing suffers.

Instead of building toward any visual or narrative payoff, the film leans on dialogue —lot of it. This choice slows the film even more. It makes action scenes feel dull and the story feel stuck.

Final Thoughts: What Are We Even Watching?

Raji and the Beast is what happens when a film has a concept but no structure. It gestures at action, at myth, at cultural relevance but never commits to any of them. The result is a scattered, over-talked, under-plotted mess that wastes its cast and its premise.

Forced plot twists and dialogue-heavy resolutions is on full display here. Characters speak in monologues that explain the film, even though we can clearly see them.

Then, right before the credits, the film tries to pivot into a message about cultural preservation. It’s sudden, misplaced, and unearned. It feels like a last-minute attempt to seem important after wasting its entire runtime. Why try to redeem messy plots by attaching big themes at the end, without doing the groundwork? This is not how storytelling works.

Verdict

Raji and the Beast is a missed opportunity. The film is full of incoherent character decisions, poorly executed action, and a weak narrative. The actors do their best, but the script doesn’t give them anything solid to work with. From start to finish, the film is a frustrating watch that overstays its welcome, bogged down by unnecessary dialogue and a resolution that feels more like a cop-out than a payoff.

Rating: 1.25/5