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TheJohnnyMango
Reviews
Queen Sono (2020)
Incredibly disappointing
It's fantastic that Netflix has put money into an African show, but this is very poor - and I hope it doesn't limit further investment in shows and films from the continent.
The premise of a spy battling against shadowy organisations as well as their own past isn't particularly original, but the combination of a female lead and African setting adds freshness. Pearl Thusi brings charisma and cool to the title character, some of the locations are beautiful and the opening scene is fun.
Unfortunately, things soon go wrong. Perhaps most obviously, much of the supporting cast is woeful. Lines are delivered without any life or passion (her boss is particularly dreadful) and scenes just fall flat, again and again. It doesn't help that much of the dialogue has clearly been recorded afterwards (ADR).
In fairness to the actors, the writing is largely dire. The dialogue is dull and unrealistic and the wider story is a mess. This is a particular shame as the topics covered (political insurgence in SA, corruption, modern urban life) have huge potential. The whole thing lacks focus and nothing is explored satisfactorily.
Also, at various points the inspirations are a little too obvious (Inception, Pulp Fiction), and the action scenes are, at times, laughable.
I hope future Africa productions (those made for an international audience) can build on this. There must be an incredible amount of talent, and almost limitless stories, to explore.
Roy (2015)
Pretentious nonsense
A staggeringly poor film. Every single moment is dull and lifeless. The acting is beyond wooden, the script nonsensical and the cinematography, which has received some praise, is nothing special. Rampal and Fernandez look nice, but cannot carry a film - scenes between the two of them lack any spark. The characters are silly and do not resemble real people in any way. I cannot think of a single scene or moment that was in any way interesting.
It's desperate to be cool and mysterious, but it's actually crushingly stupid. The lack of even unintentional laughs or entertainment make it one of the least enjoyable films I've ever seen.
Desi Boyz (2011)
Terrible
This really is an abysmal film. The plot makes no sense, with John and Akshay playing male prostitutes who, we're told, don't have sex with their clients, although quite what they actually do to earn their money is never fully explained. (Why didn't the writers just make them strippers? Would they have been sued by the makers of The Full Monty?)
Akshay is involved in a nonsense story with an annoying little kid and somehow ends up studying at Oxford University. John is having woman troubles with Deepika, whose performance here is so wooden it's laughable. Yes, she may look nice, but the woman has zero star quality or charisma.
If you can get past the storyline, you will surely be shocked at the outright amateurishness of the film-making. The sound dubbing is appalling, the editing is sloppy and disjointed and the whole thing is shot without any kind of style or imagination. It also doesn't know what it wants to be, with Akshay and Deepika talking to the camera in early scenes, before this trick is apparently forgotten for the rest of the movie and the finale breaks out into typical Bollywood melodrama.
I am genuinely amazed that anyone could rate this highly. I'm pretty sure a bunch of college kids could make a more competent film.