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Projects like Knockout Blessing should be given the encouragement to grow and give Nollywood a much-needed, long-awaited facelift.

Pulse Movie Review: Knockout Blessing's bold ambition can be the future of Nollywood | Pulse Nigeria

Samson Toromade

<h1>Growing up, Teco Benson&amp;#x27;s State of Emergency was a personal favourite because of its ambitious story, even for a time considered to be Nollywood&amp;#x27;s golden era.</h1>

The sight of energetic Officer Smith (Saint Obi) pulling out all the stops to outmanoeuvre a dauntless Charles (J.T. Tom West) in a terrorist, hostage-taking situation is not one to quite easily forget in a hurry.

Since then, not a lot of Nollywood movies have been bold enough, or good enough, to reach the heights that State of Emergency did in 2004.

In fact, in the years that have followed, the industry has appeared to swear off productions of that calibre as many filmmakers have simply kowtowed to the allure of comedy movies which is what the Nollywood audience is believed to only desire now.

Ade Laoye is Blessing (Instagram/@adelaoye)

Two years after his impressive debut with Ojukokoro, Dare Olaitan returns at the helm as writer-director for a crime thriller that follows the journey of a young orphan from her troubled rural environment right into the centre of an incredibly ridiculous political scandal.

Ade Laoye is Blessing, a mysteriously juiced-up boxer who can kill anyone with a mean left hook (think One-Punch Man).

"Is that normal?" You get to ask a lot of the time, but let's roll with it for now.

Through a series of unfortunate events, Blessing has to flee her home and into the cold embrace of the big bad city armed with an ambition to fight in a boxing tournament in the United States of America.

Her plan doesn't work out quite as expected and she runs into two down-on-their-luck girls with whom she stumbles into the dark reaches of Nigerian politics.

While the movie's plot sounds straight-forward, Olaitan does the hard work of making it unique in ways Nollywood is not exactly familiar with.

For starters, Knockout Blessing is narrated in chapters, and the opening two chapters are narrated in a non-linear manner (think Pulp Fiction).

While the movie opens with the exploit of two sex workers, the luckless Oby (Linda Ejiofor), and the shrewd Hannah (Meg Otanwa), and how they come in contact with Blessing, the second chapter rewinds the timeline to tell Blessing's (origin) story and how she ends up in the same vicinity as girls she'd most likely never mix with under different circumstances.

Linda Ejiofor is Oby in Knockout Blessing (Instagram/@ihuomalindaejiofor)

Knockout Blessing's opening chapters are so delightfully done thanks to Olaitan's deft touch and the pluckiness of the central characters.

However, things start to take a wobbly turn after the story is established.

In their bid to get Blessing to America to compete in the boxing tournament, the girls meet with a local crime boss, Dagogo, played by the chirpy Bucci Franklin who adds a little bit more colour and comedic heft to the affair.

The girls' encounter with Dagogo leads them down a path that changes all of their lives forever in an unsatisfactory, albeit entertaining, fashion.

Blessing's transition from a reserved girl who only ever raises her deadly fist in self-defence into one willing to be a weapon to target and rob harmlessly horny men takes quite a leap in character development.

While it's not hard to sell the transformation to the audience, the movie fails to take the character through that captivating conflict and it's such an unforgivable missed opportunity.

Knockout Blessing's robbery montage sequence is lacking in imagination with its limited setting, which is unbelievable for a host of obvious reasons, but suitably depicts the length desperate people will go to survive when legitimate economic opportunities are hard to come by.

When Blessing finally decides she's done being a weapon, the group decides to embark on a cliched final heist that'll set everyone for life. Don't we know how this always ends, eh?

At this point, the characters (un)characteristically throw reason out of the window just because the plot demanded a dramatic high-stakes final act.

Hannah (Meg Otanwa) drives many of the group's decisions in Knockout Blessing (Instagram/@megotanwa)

Meg Otanwa's Hannah drives many of the group's decisions in Knockout Blessing (Instagram/@megotanwa)

Olaitan makes the most of it as that decision brings the girls into the crosshairs of Gowon who is arguably one of Nollywood's best villains to be depicted onscreen with a domineering performance from Demola Adedoyin. Gowon is a fixer who must stop the girls from unwittingly 'endangering national security' with a political secret best kept in the shadows.

Knockout Blessing's action-packed final act is a mess of sorts: bold, intense, funny, but also implausible and confusing, especially with its incoherent timing of events.

It's not perfect, but it shines through with heart and purpose. Perhaps, Olaitan's most commendable feat with Knockout Blessing is integrating all of the movie's differing elements into a coherent story that just pulls the rug gently from under your feet.

As an added bonus, Knockout Blessing is funny, even funnier than some movies whose entire existence revolves around making the audience laugh.

In the end, the movie appears to set up for a sequel that'll frankly be interesting to watch unfold because of the many unanswered questions this one burdens you with.

The most prominent question being: What's the deal with Blessing's (Immortal Iron) fist and why is it such a lethal weapon?

Did she get her one-punch power from hitting a bag really hard and really regularly for years? Or did whoever's-the-god-of-lethal-punches himself/herself descend to the earth to kiss her fist and turn it into a weapon of death and destruction? The movie leaves this open to speculation, and it's hard to decide if it's a conscious decision or something Olaitan doesn't quite know how to explain without making the movie a drag. My money's on the former.

Whatever's the tale behind it, Ade Laoye's mousy, tortured demeanor perfectly suits a character carrying such a burden and she does a good job of making Blessing a noteworthy character when the script is not getting in her way.

Ade Laoye delivers a notable performance as the tortured Blessing (Instagram/@adelaoye)

Ade Laoye delivers an impressive performance as the tortured Blessing (Instagram/@adelaoye)

You don't get to see movies like Knockout Blessing show up in Nollywood quite often because, at this rate, it doesn't have a home with the movie-watching crowd that's been spoilt silly with comic affairs.

Nollywood is at a crossroads about whether to stick to what works but is not necessarily healthy for the industry's growth or to go full throttle on quality and diversity with all the (financial) consequences damned.

Until consumers make the deliberate decision that it's time to accommodate and reward outliers like Knockout Blessing, brilliantly made projects like it will only show up in fits and starts.

When Nollywood eventually decides to spring out of its cage of limited offerings, ambitious projects like Knockout Blessing can set the pace for the future.

Ade Laoye is the titular Blessing in Knockout Blessing (Twitter/@adelaoye)

Pulse Movie Review: Knockout Blessing's bold ambition can be the future of Nollywood

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