Day: January 23, 2023

Shanty Town Netflix Series Review: Hits and Misses

Shanty Town is currently the trending series on Netflix and although a lot of controversy has surrounded its release, we have to pay attention to the major things that matter in the series. Here is a review of Shanty Town Netflix Series brought to you by The Scoove Africa.

 

Hits

• Well-fleshed dialogues
• Amazing casting
• Well scripted scenes and wholesome plot
• Thorough costume

Misses

• Cliché action scenes
• Underdevelopment of some characters
• Slow buildup and sudden climax
• Underdeveloped backstory

Shanty Town Review

Shanty Town Netflix series thrives on its sheer and raw portrayal of the underworld of criminals and politicians. It is unapologetic about its depiction of the life of the infamous “ashawos” and their victimization by crime lords and kingpins. Its cliché action scenes and lack of appropriate climax is unnerving. However, it will still satisfy an average critical audience.

☆Rating: 7.4/10

Shanty Town Series Review: Hits

First, it is hoped that the cast were selected intentionally and not just because they are popular. The presence of Chidi Mokeme who played the character of Scar/Aboderin, in the series, must have been backed up by an intentional casting decision which really helped the series.

Scar’s portrayal of the kingpin whom everyone must fear is unparalleled. He instills a kind of fear that is impossible for the viewers not to feel.

We can feel every of his delivery; his stares and even his breath and the way he addresses each girl- we know he is not there to play and the amount of realism he invests in his character makes the character come to life.

Shanty Town review proves that Chidi Mokeme is definitely one of the standouts stars of the series. Next comes Ini Edo, who seems to have made a dramatic comeback with her role as “Nnem” in Shanty Town Series.

Over the years, Ini Edo hasn’t really gotten roles that do justice to her talent as an actress. However, her portrayal of an undercover DSS agent is just perfect.

Not only does she nail the role, she delivers it with such passion that makes us understand that she truly has the passion and talent for acting. It is so incredible to see acting veterans handle new roles with such vigor and not resting on their past laurels or their names.

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After Chidi Mokeme, Ini Edo makes the series highly watchable and gives an overall good impression of what an undercover agent should look and behave like.

At first, we do not get to experience the sheer power of Nancy Isime as an actress, but as the scenes go on, we begin to see that she understood her character and has mastered the act of not over-acting but understanding the situation and going along with it.

True, there have been negative reactions to her nude scenes. However, she claimed those were of her body double. Regardless, it is quite hard for a person like Nancy Isime to act with such courage on set and play such a character. Kudos to her on a job well done and for handling the character like a pro.

Other stand out characters are Jackie and Chief Fernandez. Remi Mofe Damijo must get his praise for pulling his character so flawlessly while Jackie (Played by Mercy Eke) was also so impressive with her portrayal of the ignorance of her character.

Furthermore, Shanty Town Review shows that for the first few times, we are actually beginning to get well scripted Nollywood series.

It seems producers and directors now know that Nigerians are not interested in the number of stars in the movie alone if the script is not saying anything reasonable. The scripting and plot of Shanty Town Series was commendable, although there were a few plot loopholes and baffling narratives. But at the end, it came together to form a storyline that was acceptable.

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Shanty Town Review: Misses

Shanty Town Review shows that the underdevelopment of some characters was just uncalled for. The character of Mama T (Played by Sola Sobowale) left some questions unanswered.

She seemed to be part of a bigger backstory that happened before we were introduced to the present narrative- especially the scene where she was checking the photos and crying. We begin to think: Is she Scar’s mother? Or related to Nnem? Or even Ene (Character played by Nse-Ikpe Etim). There seems to be some confusion going on there, and it is not so great.

Also, the buildup was absent.

The storyline was dragged till the fourth episode and it was not until we got to the last episode that we got an inkling that something bad is going down.

The climax was too sudden and it really made the whole thing centered on episode 6 alone. To an extent, if you are good at predicting movies, you could watch episode 6 alone out of the whole series and still get 80% idea of what has happened so far.

Too much attention was paid to the end of the series that the buildup needed in the preceding episodes were left out.

We know that Shanty Town is dangerous, but while Scar is there to scare everyone, we do not get to see other people in action as much as we should have. For example, the character of Her Excellency (Played by Shaffy Bello) was incredible even though she had one major scene alone. Yet, we didn’t see her perpetuate enough evil to bring the much needed climax and make us see that she is indeed a worthy opponent to Chief Fernandez

On the other hand, the cliché action scenes are somewhat forgivable considering that action scenes as such are not Nollywood’s forte. Still, they get an “A” for Effort for the choreographed stunts.

Shanty Town Series Review

Shanty Town Netflix series thrives on its sheer and raw portrayal of the underworld of criminals and politicians. It is unapologetic about its depiction of the life of infamous “ashawos” and their victimization by crime lords. Its cliché action scenes and lack of appropriate climax is unnerving. However, it would still satisfy an average critical audience.

Rating

Plot: 1.4/2

Casting: 1.6/2

Scripting: 1.5/2

Design/Costume/Setting: 1.6/2

Replay Value: 1.3/2

☆Total: 7.4/10

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Stream Shanty Town on Netflix