Nollywood Stars Tv, present St. Obi (Arnold), Liz Benson (Mrs. James), Enebeli Elebuwa (Messa), Ejike Asiegbu (Bimbo), George Davidson (George), Ireti Osayemi (Tonia), Femi Durojaiye (Nani), Omega Ojukwu (Bond), Enitan O.J, (Desmond), Gentle Jack (Jack). Director of Photography, Solomon Nwako; Associate Producer, Donald Okoli; Executive Producer, Ossy Affason; Producer Ossy Affason; Screenplay, Ikenna Ahikwe; Director, Tarilla Thompson. © 2005.
Anywhere Scotland Yard has an assignment they always send their best. Every time I heard the name, Scotland Yard, in an investigative drama, I’d automatically conjured up Agartha Christie, and her crew of nosy, snoopy, detectives with a cockney accent present. Top Secret beckons to me an earlier Nollywood production–Most Wanted Woman (2015) Nollywood Movie Reviews Vol1, pp.53-56, starred by Nse Ikpe Etim (Kora Daniels).
At this point in my Nollywood movie reviews with four hundred and twenty-five under my belt, I am gradually assuming that most recent films are producing graduated forms of earlier light– textured yesteryear: shallow plots, lack of depth, and featherweight characters. They are drawing upon past stories and expanding on them. For instance, what is Myles (Femi Jacobs) in Most Wanted Woman, is what Captain Bimbo (Ejike Asiegbu), is to the Nigerian Interpol department, in Top Secret.
When Messa (Enebeli Elebuwa) has a meeting to introduce Mrs. Pamela James from the Scotland Yard to the intelligence personnel of the department, you can see that Bimbo is not enthused, and even to the point of ridiculing the newly assigned colleague. Mrs. Pamela James (Liz Benson) is brought in from Scotland Yard to help Nigerian government to get a hold on the missing Budget File in the Internal Audit Report of the Nigerian Federal Government.
Here I admire the way the officers are laid out, each with their caliber, and the grit that made them who they are, for instance, Mrs. Pamela James, a Scotland Yard trained expatriate, same way how Most Wanted Woman showcases Kora Daniels. She is multi-lingual and have fought in Freetown, Liberia and an expert in guerrilla warfare. I harbor a tinge of jealousy when that lovely girl, Kora wakes up in bed with Myles, while he is the culprit all along behind the crimes that were directed at her. But Kora did beat the odds against him.
Mrs. Pamela James, Scotland Yard trained, is not a small potato either. She’s hardcore and brings with her the traditional British system of investigation: systematic, meticulous, methodical, and whimsical. She already gets the feeling her Senior Superintendent, Bimbo (Ajika Asiegbu), is the mole in this investigation against a criminal cabal responsible for the disappearance of the Federal Audit Report, and the missing Budget File from the department. Bimbo claims to Messa, Mrs. James is snooping around, but Messa says, “she isn’t. She’s one of the best from Scotland Yard.”
You remember when Myles announced that Koral Daniels is declared, “the most dangerous woman and wanted,” but never actually went after her. Well in Top Secret, Mrs. James and Superintendent Bimbo, like two bull dogs, are about to play Jackal and Hyde. Mrs. James knows who Bimbo is though with no conclusion yet, but her instinct won’t lie. She is convinced Bimbo, her immediate boss, is dirty. Bimbo on the other hand, has Jack (Gentle Jack) to go about doing his dirty killings, like wringing the neck of the Ghanian intelligent officer, Desmond (Enitan O.J), who claims he has the report that everyone is fighting to lay hands on, but wants a compensation. Bimbo wants to lay hands on it before his department does. Jack procures the documents after killing Desmond.
The structure of Top Secret is of three layers. The top secret itself: the dark side of the administration to keep hidden government eyes from seeing the corrupt side of the administration–Bimbo; second, the side that wants to expose the dirty side of the administration–Mrs. James; the entry of Arnold (St. Obi) in the fray, to challenge Jack and eventually Jack’s boss Bimbo. And moreover, the theme tune of the espionage in Top Secret is as hurried as the business at hand; like there’s a tide in the affairs of man as in Mission: Impossible (1996)
There’s a mysterious call from a body of men who claimed they had the file and wants compensation and arranged to meet and hand over the document to the Nigerian intelligent officers. Bimbo has arranged to lay hands on the document and the million-dollar compensation–double cross. Bond, and the officer in his regard is among his representatives to meet with the gang. Meanwhile, Bimbo has Jack come to the hotel where the meeting is taking place. He gets there on time as the exchange has taken place and passes over the handgrip with the file to Bond. Jack kills the two officers and silences Bond and gets away with the money and document.
Bimbo has his docks in line and thinks he will go on to succeed in his espionage. At the crime scene, a hand glove left by the culprit points to Arnold (St. Obi), from the defunct Bully Heart Squad, 23, who is assumed dead, but laying and basking, somewhere on the beaches of South Africa. Arnold will come out from retirement to clear his name. And that will be the moment of truth in the story. His inside man who has contacted Jack about the venue and the money and the document. Jack enters the hotel under a fake name and prepares for the attack, to double cross the transaction.
Just when the deal is completed and the money and the document passed on to Bond, Jack shows up and kills the two agents except Bond spared per instructions from Bimbo. Bimbo and his lone killer Jack are later having a drink over Jack’s success. But it is not all done. The name of Arnold Clem shows up as the owner of the glove found at the crime scene. Arnold Clem: rap sheet includes, Congo Crisis, Rwanda Revolution, IRA monitor, and Columbia Drug Lord eliminator, won’t be a small potato to liquidate.
It is believed however that Arnold is dead, but seemingly he is not. Superintendent Bimbo shakes in his pants knowing this is the last thing that will uncover his roguish doings in the department. He sends Jack after Clem in South Africa and chases him to Nigeria. Once in Nigeria, Mrs. James gets to him first and puts him in a handcuff. When James asks how he escapes, “You can’t send boys to do a man’s job.” He escapes from James. It is him and Bimbo’s hired killer, Jack. Arnold is in the arena of confusion: who is after him and even killed his girlfriend in the shootout; the missing budget files from Internal Audit Report, and the mysterious death of the Ghanian intelligent, Desmond, and the murder of the two Nigerian Intelligent and the near-death of Bond in the attack by the mysterious attacker. Tonia, a former intelligence who works with Arnold in Freetown, gives him insight about the killings and why Arnold is framed. “Bimbo is behind the killings,” she concludes.
This scene is where all the plots of the story converge. Arnold comes from the left field, who everyone thinks was dead, but jumps into the ring to face Jack. Arnold is super in what he does and wants a closure to this missing file but at the same time, doesn’t want the Nigerian government to get to him first. Bimbo is mad that Kack lied to him when he said he killed Arnold. He must send him back on the mission to kill Arnold. “This time for good,” he intoned.
In the final scene where Bimbo and Arnold go at it mano-a-mano, Bimbo confesses on tape but when he finds out that he is been recorded, he jumps on Jack. Jack disables him and puts him in handcuff. We learn that Arnold Clem and Mrs. Pamela James are old acquaintances and would want to rekindle the relationship. The last word Mrs. Pamela James says upon his exiting the scene, “Don’t keep me waiting.” In front of her are two wine glasses, is a half-drunk bottle of wine, and an empty bed in the background, symbolizing romantic intent. She keeps waiting until 2023 when St. Obi takes his final exit from this world.