Movie: DWINDLE
Release date: 2021
Reviewer: Aishah Saleeman
Director: Kayode Kasum
The 2021 movie is directed by Kayode Kasum and stars popular comedy actors like Broda Shaggi, Bisola Aiyeola, Funke Akindele, Lateef Adedimeji among others.
The two hours five-minute movie tells us the story of two police officers who find themselves in a difficult situation as they were given an undercover assignment to protect the governor of Darkawa State who ended up getting kidnapped under their watch. The two police officers, however, were accused and declared wanted by the Police Force as the primary suspects.
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Joshua, the governor’s son who also happens to be the brain behind the kidnap was shown to be a mannerless young boy. He wants to kill the Governor as he has an insurance policy that’ll give him 10 million dollars after his father’s death. This amount was enough for him to repay the money he owed and to move on in life.
Chinedu (Jide Kene Achufusi) is a frustrated young man who is facing financial challenges- his girlfriend who he can’t marry because he is poor, overdue house rent, losing a job he barely started, his father’s urgent medical needs which cost 2 million naira. In the search for money, he became a Taxifly rider with his friend Buta. His first passenger happens to be the kidnapper who had tons of cash at hand and the governor in the boot. The two friends escaped with the money, unknown to them that the governor was in the trunk of the car.
This comical role to amuse viewers rests mostly on Buta (popularly known as Broda Shaggi) as he tries to do everything in the most hilarious manner. In Dwindle, even drinking garri is done in an amusing way. The movie would have failed immensely if it rested solely on its comic elements.
The crime thriller opens with several unrelated threads of events, however, this doesn’t sully the movie, as the threads later come together organically. Characters are sometimes introduced abruptly, and you’d ask yourself if it was necessary.
But the movie answers all these questions along the way and each minor character plays a role in the climax of the movie. This way, it differentiates itself from the usual Nollywood approach to make up a scene just for comical purposes.
Following up some scenes in the movie, it wasn’t quite explanatory why the deputy governor instructed the police to back down on the search for the missing governor even after they’ve been told the precise location of the ‘possible kidnappers’ and the governor.
The movie gives us a detailed explanation of how love for money makes one desperate even at the detriment of one’s fathers’ life. Money does make one go blind indeed.
Dwindle is a great watch, although with some boring scenes in between, but it doesn’t fail to capture the attention of the audience. The crime thriller is great, and the characters shown in the film feel so real. The movie starts with many things that were happening parallelly and ends up coming together. The movie introduced too many characters which may have burdened the audience, but after watching the whole film, it was necessary. The climax of the film is full of adventure and has proved to be a satisfying end for the characters
The most commending character involves Mary Chukwuma who says next-to-nothing but still acted excellently.
With Dwindle, much of the acts in Dwindle give you a feeling of ‘you’ve seen this before’, from the same director. The money chase has elements of Sugar Rush, the comical attempts to get out of penury gives vibes of Ponzi (both from the same director), and some other elements actually wreak of both films. It’s not just story flaws, but also directorial drawbacks as well. Even the characters have similar traits.
Dwindle is now streaming on Netflix.
