Gush Media, Corporate World Entertainment, present Nadia Buari (Dare), Ayo Makum (Amaju), Ramsey Nouah (Ayo), Sam Dede (Priest), Chidi Mokema (Dafe), Jide Kosoko, (Minister of Health) Uchemba Williams (Johnny), Segun Arinze, Iretiola Doyle (Dame Maduka). Writers, Darlington Abuda; Ayo Makum, Jeffery Musa; Cinematography, Wesley Johnson; Producer, Darlington Abuda; Director, Moses Inwang. © 2023.
Merry Man 3: Nemesis lost its way to the African Movie Award.
But glitz…..Checked!
Grits….Checked!
Pomp and pageantry…. Checked!
The usual flamboyancy in general, which is Merry Mens’ trademark movie finale: the prank Ayo played in his engagement, at the end of Yoruba Demons, when the engagement ring pops out of the red rose; and a yacht full of men and women out of the Nollywood world, puffing on giant-size Cuban cigars, popping the best of wines and all the glories of the good life, gliding through the waters of Lagos Keys, in the final scene in The Mission…Nope, not here! Nemesis is having its worst experience. The once brilliant, admired, and gallant squad of rogues is waning and losing grip on its youths. Ayo (Ramsey Nouah) wants out:
“It’s about time, you know, we settle down, have a family, a beautiful wife, you wake up every morning, see her beautiful face, have children, and train the children to be better men. Naz has taken a bolder step; I realize…been around the world, painting different cities red with your frolickings. And here we are, we become men, no more boys. Naz took the bold step before any of us. He has settled down, and I will take the next step. We have all lived the life; think about it.”
It is not so much a regret speech but a resignation from the life of robbing, heisting, and living on the edge of a daily wanton life. He wants to be a grown man. Hence, he is marrying the love of his life, Dare (Nadia Buari), so he can retire into the sunset.
Then, the black swan event!
A voiceover on the PA system, a menacing tone, throws all the guests into a panic at the wedding: Priest, “Do you…” An unseen ominous voice echos, “Ayodele Aleshinloye, promise to love, protect, and cherish, and tell the truth at all times to the woman standing before you?” Besides the doubt and fear in the eyes of all in the immaculate hall, as they look up at the ceiling for the source of the voice, the voice still commands the crowd to look at the high-up and faraway screen and then, “Boom!” Naz’s car blows to pieces with him sitting in it. Panic and pandemonium ensue in the hall.
Nemesis is about vengeance. Ayo and his childhood friend Dafe (Chidi Mokema) had grown up together as hardcore criminals but had parted ways since their last joint diamond heist in South Africa. And Ayo had escaped the scene, leaving Dafe on the floor with a broken skull. He miraculously survived and was smuggled into the United States. Because Ayo abandoned him in South Africa, came back to Nigeria, and cared less for his mother, who had died in his absence, Dafe blames him. He comes furiously to Ayo at his wedding. In life, Karma, they say, always catches up with us in the most unexpected places.
Ayo’s childhood and lifetime crime friend becomes his greatest tormentor, humbug, and Nemesis. But as in childhood, when Ayo had always beaten Dafe to abracadabra tricks, the occurrence in Nemesis would be final even as it became the game of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ayo manages to beat him to the punch regardless of the damage he is meting out on him: dousing Ayo’s son’s mother in gasoline and framing Ayo in the assassination of a prominent political figure, blowing Naz up in flames, and Merry Men losing Remy as well. It’s like watching your empire crumble in flames. They are terrified and cowered at the mere mention of the mysterious voice of Dafe. Oh, yes, they know his capabilities and meanness, especially seeing Naz blown up in his car, and the warning, “You have no place to run, no place to hide- your demons have crawled out from hell.” Johnny is scared stiff: “Amaju, you know I’m not completely part of the Merry Men. You guys brought me in as contract staff …I want to travel and I don’t know if this man knows my face.”
Moviegoers have high expectations not just for the plot of Nemesis but also for the sensation they experienced with Merry Men 2: The Mission. Most would be disappointed when they found out Naz wouldn’t be there. It is hard for sequels to be better than the original, but that is not the audience’s expectation. You are giving them an opposition to the original that will create a subliminal debate in their experience–old versus new. Based on the box office blockbuster performance, most Hollywood studios signed up actors for sequels. In other words, sequels should be like settling an unfinished business.
Nemesis spends too much time on personal beef, away from committing heists but on the personal beef between Ayo and Dafe (Chidi Mokemba). Nemesis scatters the plot all over the story. Instead of Dafe going for Ayo, he has to frame Ayo to kill the political brass and pin it on him. Writers Darlington, Ayo, and Jeffery played us by extending the beef between Ayo and Dafe, bringing in political assassinations. Then, there is the plot involving Dame Maduka. Dafe also eliminates the prominent Minister of Health (Jide Kosoko) and goes on dousing Zara in gas and setting her ablaze.
Significant players in Merry Men: The Yoruba Demons and Merry Men 2: The Mission are warding off their characters as they go along. Not by their design, though. Of course, Amaju is strapped in handcuffs to a bedpost in The Mission by two prostitutes. In Nemesis, Dafe’s sidekick prostitute frames and blackmails him to announce his plans for “all corrupt politicians….” Dafe’s plan to involve The Merry Men in his assassination attempts on politicians. Unless future Merry Men recruits new members as gallant and creative as Remy and Naz, I am afraid future editions of the same name (Merry Men) and leftover characters may seem too soapy and not as good.
One thing with sequels such as Merry Men: Nemesis is that they use the true and tried formula of the original, Merry Men: The Real Yoruba Demons, and Merry Men 2 The Mission. Producers of Nemesis are not out to give us a Xerox copy of the originals but to present Ayo, the lead character with his past life come to hunt him and his clan. So, the creative dynamics here will be different. Unlike remakes, which Nemesis isn’t, the present actors, most not born by the original’s premier, mimic century-old actors and create scenes similar to the original. Nemesis is a sequel. It’s like saying, “We have an unfinished business in that film.” Indeed, they want to squeeze the last glorious juice out of the Merry Men franchise. Nemesis ends not in Yatch but in a pool of water where Dare slugs it out with Dafe’s sidekick. Ayo overpowers his Nemesis, Dafe, in a fistfight. I have my nemesis with the Merry Men series. Please, abeg don’t let Merry Men morph into episodes, for it will lose its charm.