The Dons in Town

Originally uploaded by NollywoodForever

The Dons in Town ~ 2009
(Also known as Pirates of the Night)
Story – Christopher Ozoemena
Screeenplay – Phil Efe
Director – Moses Ebere

Starring:
Prince David Osei – Bernard (also credited as Justin)
Gavivina Tamakloe – Lord Boka
Majid Michel – Hakeem
John Dumelo – Mike
Amanorbea Opoku Boakye – Akorfa
Abieku Segoe – Chief Titus
Eddie Coffie – Pastor James
Brenda Osei Bonsu – Stacey
Eve Asare – Chrystal
William Opare – ASP
Rukaya Mashood – Eve
Eddie Afram Owusu – Landlord
Louis Saah-Acquahman – Akwesi
Roger Quartey – Desmond
Moses Lamptey – Mr Addo

Themes:
Poverty
Chronic Unemployment
419
Greed
Charms

My Rating – 60%

Hakeem is a graduate with a 1st class degree in Computer Science. Three years after graduation he has not found a job and lives off his girlfriend Evelyn. The big dreams that he had before graduation have not materialised and things come to a head when he catches his girlfriend Evelyn in bed with her boss in the house that they live in together. In a fit of rage after she seems so nonchalant about her wicked act he attempts strangling her. He is imprisoned because of this and only freed after his mother offers a bribe after selling family heirlooms.

One day Hakeem is out drinking when his wallet is stolen. The shopkeeper is infuriated and demanding payment, believing that Hakeem is trying to rip him off. The argument between the two spills out onto the road and it is here that Hakeem comes across his old friend Mike who comes to his rescue by paying his bill.

Mike tries to persuade Hakeem into join his 419 crew. Hakeem stands his ground and refuses on that day but later relents. He has a rethink when his mother’s house is ransacked for goods by the landlord in return for debt that his mother has owed for 2 years. His manhood is insulted by the fact that this man could come and treat his mother like that and curse out his non working status in the process. He has reached breaking point and takes the initiative to reach out to Mike.

*************SPOILERS*************

First thing is first. Let me take a deep breath. I think I am in love with John Dumelo. I get the same feeling when I see him on screen that I used to get with Nonso. Brutha is fi-ya!
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What sort of fool was Evelyn? You just got caught with a next man and you are telling your man,

“I wasn’t expecting you this early… Stop running around wearing this betrayed look.”

Eiwoooo! She didn’t even have the decency to rendezvous in a hotel and then she is giving back chat! The chick that played Evelyn, Rukaya Mashood was a baaaaad actress. Not bad as in good but bad as in awful. Not the worse I’ve seen, lemme not call names before the offended start flooding my blog, but pretty low down on the totem pole in terms of a convincing performance.

The actress that played Stacey, Brenda Osei Bonsu was pretty good, I don’t remember seeing her before. The only thing I had a problem with was the way her accent kept changing. Did anyone else notice how her accent changed at the end of Part 1. It went extremely British all of a sudden and from there it would switch from scene to scene. Weird! Why didn’t anyone tell her to stay in character? I wonder ooo!
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From fast paced and engaging the movie got a bit boring for me in Part 2. It turned into being about this whole spiritual battle. The dons go to have a spiritual bath to protect their 419 business. What arrant nonsense? We see how chronic employment can affect the mind of young men. We see the change from the beginning of the movie where the men were talking about legit jobs to the greed that consumes them to the extent that they speak about 419 as though it is a legit business. After a 4.5 million jackpot after fleecing a mugu, Mike is talking about taking the “business” to the next level.

A big peeve that I had with this movie was that there were too may pointless scenes. Minutes upon minutes showing us thinking scenes and shopping scenes. Three long ass shopping scenes in one movie is too much. We get that the dons now have money. WE GET IT! WE GET IT WE GET IT!!!
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The movie was for the most part enjoyable to watch (most of all part 1.) On top of that you have my two major eye candies of the moment Majid and John starring together. Does it get better than that? At the end of the movie I saw The End of the Dons in Town advertised, and so the movie continues. On the trailer shown we see the dons getting super extravagant. No doubt there will be a big fall to come. I think a continuation is going to be too much more of the same so I don’t think I will be bothering with that. Nevertheless I would recommend this movie.

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