Movie Review: Rattlesnake — The Ahanna Story
If you have any kind of Nigerian ties and have been online or even out and about recently, you must have seen all the buzz around the Rattlesnake movie released last year and now available on Netflix. I watched it about a week ago and let’s just say I would like to speak to anyone with some free time about it. I will also try not to get too detailed, in case you wish to watch it after reading this, dear reader. I will leave a lot of meat on the bone for you.
As a sort of blanket disclaimer, I think I should emphasize how little I care about whether I come across a bit too “honestly” or not. In every civilization, there are critics. I think my mind is wired that way a little bit and I will make no apologies for this. Basically, if any of your faves are in the race, pull out now while you still can. No hard feelings.
Let me break it down:
Plot/Story Flow
There was a previous Rattlesnake movie done sometime in 1995. I have zero recollections as to what that might have been about. I can only say that I’m glad I didn’t go through with my initial plan to watch the first movie in preparation for this one.
Apparently, even in 2021, Nollywood sequels do not need to have any crucial or compelling connections to Part 1.
The movie opens and we are introduced to voice narration that will essentially last throughout the film. Do we like it? Do we think it is completely necessary to the story? Maybe we don’t, but it is almost as if everyone involved in this movie doesn’t give a rat’s ass what we think. There was a particular year that narration made a comeback in Nollywood, and they have not looked back since, I guess.
If you sat through the 2020 movie The Set Up, I am here to tell you that the madness there was just practice. You know the way that movie refused to end? How it was a Russian doll set of plot twists, sub-plots, hyper plots and general information that did not have to make it into the film? In case you didn’t watch it, let’s just say that it was a series of ghen-ghens that each set out to out-ghenghen all prior ghen-ghens. Sit back and get “something chewing,” my darlings. This movie is set up even more than that.
So the beginning of the movie tries to establish a background, family ties and motives to justify how our lead character Ahanna turns out. Are these motives strong enough? Personally, I do not think that they are. They lack a certain something to convince me of what’s coming, but that’s just me. It also feels like a lot of activities and experiences were crammed into the 2 hour 15 minute runtime which is weird, because that should be enough time to explain the story. Loopholes existed, for instance the bank robbery scene… Sigh. Yes, that part had a lot of question marks popping up for me. Also, Bucci Franklin’s eye injury healed in a really jarring way for me that I think threw me off track somewhat. The Ahanna love affair was also absolutely unnecessary to me, save of course to set us up for an extra “twist” at the end.
There were just too many offshoots of the plot. It would have made for way more immersive viewing if they stuck to one and polished it until it shone and left a memorable taste in one’s mouth.
Casting/Acting Performance
I enjoyed Efa Iwara’s role on The Men’s Club, but there is just something off about his casting here.
Stan Nze flits in and out of his delivery for me, sometimes seeming like a good fit, other times reminding me of something, anything, that is awkward and not a good fit.
Since the time of The Wedding Party and (god help us) The Wedding Party 2, Nollywood has stuck to this strange “everybody eats” philosophy that — while I’m sure well-intentioned, is not practical in the movie industry — makes one actor call all their friends to join them on a single movie. Too many cooks spoil the broth and sadly the broth of this film was rendered odd-tasting with the inclusion of so many popular faces. Where is the audience to place their focus? Who should the viewers root for? Which character should we connect to? Honestly, it all depends on a handful of chance scattered into the four winds on a particularly windy Sunday evening.
We have Efe Iwara, Stan Nze, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (yes, she was the advert for Mai Atafo clothing), Rebecca Nengi-Hampson (her role gives the word “waka-pass” a whole new layer of meaning), Chiwetalu Agu, Ramsay Nouah, Osas Ighodaro, Tobi Bakre, Norbert Young, Gloria Young and Bucci Franklin. Friends, let me not forget to inform you that AY was also in this film.
Phew. I thought Tinsel was the only acting academy in the industry?
This movie was objectively not a great fit for Osas Ighodaro.
Tobi Bakre’s thug character was really well executed, but of course his undercover persona was too much of a switch to seem believable.
In-app ads and purchases
My goodness, in my time watching Nollywood, I have seen a few tacky brand placements that tried too hard, but nothing prepared me for these. There are full ads in this movie, people. The actors just act out the ads randomly in different scenes scattered throughout. You can’t skip ahead, there’s no warning, nothing. The movie itself is an advertisement, I’m just not sure what the product/campaign theme is. You know how The Truman Show had ads? Bingo. The only difference is that these ads were not placed ironically to make us laugh.
My absolute favourite one that till this day makes no sense to me is the one where in the middle of a viewing in an art gallery, Eddie Madaki steps out (for no reason) to talk to us for a few minutes about the greatness that is Louis XIII cognac (again, for no reason.) I mean, I enjoy alcohol as well as the next guy, but why in tarnations is anyone at an art gallery popping out to speak to us about a drink that seems to be more important than the actual art?
In summary, I really wish Nollywood would generally take more risks with fresh faces who are would probably embody a character a lot better than an established actor. I mean, just because an actor is popular does not necessarily mean that they would be the best fit for just any role. All in all though, I enjoyed the infusion of Igbo and wriggled my eyebrows when Ramsey Nouah crossed over briefly from Living in Bondage — Breaking Free and made a proposition to Ahanna. (Said proposition was not in any way relevant to anything going on, but it was just nice to see Ramsey Nouah and touch base.)
The picture quality was good though. You know, nice dresses.
