Movie Review: ‘One Too Many’ ranks #4 on Netflix’s Top 10, exposes rottenness in police force

A popular phrase in Nigeria is “The police are your friend.” This phrase is even pasted on the walls of police stations across the country. However, one woman’s experience with the police shows that the phrase should be taken with a pinch of salt. This experience is captured in the movie ‘One Too Many’ currently airing on Netflix and is ranked #4 on the Top 10 movies as of the time of filing this review.

‘One Too Many’ is a Nollywood movie that tells the story of Adesua (Dakore Akande) who can never have anything good to say about the police. At the age of 17, Adesuwa who was a brilliant schoolgirl and the apple of her father’s eyes was raped by two police officers while she was hawking food for her mother. As if that was not enough, her attempt to get justice was trashed by the police when she approached their station to report the incident. Her father who was always proud of her couldn’t stand the shame of looking at her after she got raped. This was the same man ready to sacrifice money meant to heal his wound to ensure Adesuwa got an education. How did he end up with a wound? The poor taxi driver got shot by trigger-happy policemen.

Years after her father’s death, Adesuwa finally finds her feet with a son to raise into a man. Adhering to her father’s warning that the street is full of wolves ready to devour anyone who is not street-savvy, she does her best to shield her tech-savvy son Otas (Chimezie Imo) from discovering the harsh realities of the outside world. However, chicks will one day flee their mother’s nest, which was what Otas did when he got called up for the National Youth Service Corps. There began another trouble for Adesuwa with the officers in black clothes.

Arrested for shooting his best friend Eric (Joshua Richard), Otas lands in prison where he has to face lions, not wolves. He stood no chance against Senator Sadiko (Jide Kosoko) whose son he’s accused of killing. He also had crooked cops to deal with. Just like his grandfather and his mother suffered at the hands of the police, Otas also had his share of the corruption in the system. The same police boss, DSP Lekan (Gbadegesin Marvelous), who wants him sentenced for the killing of Eric, is one of the police officers that raped Adesuwa leading to Otas’ birth. DSP Lekan could care less as his officers ensured to switch exhibits to bury Otas’ chance of getting free. However, a technology invented by the tech-savvy young man came to his rescue when the world was coming down on him.

‘One Too Many’ which came to Netflix in February not only shows the corruption in the police force but also the struggles people go through to get justice. It featured acts like Tope Tedela (Barrister Thomas), Rachel Oniga (Judge), Paul Utomi (Aminu), and Omowunmi Dada (Ehi) and was Directed by Kayode Kasum for Hope Pictures.

While the movie might be doing well on Netflix at the moment, I’ve figured out some reasons why its shine won’t last on the streaming platform. These reasons prevent the movie from being the type you might want to tell a friend about after watching.

Below par acting

The court scenes in this movie were too brief and rushed. I can almost say that real legal practitioners were not consulted before the scripts for the scenes were written. The part where Otas raised his voice in anger in court against the prosecuting counsel while the judge ignored him to scold the prosecutor was kind of awkward. The movie can fool the inexperienced, but as a writer who has covered the judiciary, a defendant can’t raise his voice in that manner in court without being rebuked by the judge.

If your intention is to watch an emotional movie, ‘One Too Many’ failed in delivering such which is its target. Dakore Akande’s acting as Adesuwa was below par as she couldn’t interpret her role well enough to pull in sympathy from her audience. Every time she was shown, she hardly looked like a mother beaten by the thought of her son in jail. She always looked like a relative without much vested interest. Another poor acting was displayed by Gbadegeshin Marvelous who was too distant from the role of a police officer (DSP Lekan). Also, Kelechi Udegbe shouldn’t have been picked to play Officer Odion. This same actor played a police officer in ‘The Black Book’. I’m beginning to think he’s a police officer in real life because this same actor has skits of him playing a police officer. He should have just been a private investigator since he was helping Adesuwa investigate the case without his bosses knowledge.

Plots are not convincing

There was really no need for DSP Lekan to confess to being a serial rapist. One rape act, in this case against Adesuwa, was enough to make him a demon. There was really no need for him to be Satan.

The movie contains scenes where Otas caught his friend Eric in bed with his girlfriend but later forgave him, blaming the incident on weed. Such forgiveness hardly ever happens in the real world. This same girlfriend testified in court that Otas killed Eric out of jealousy for their affair. I believe the girl should have instead been Eric’s girlfriend who got angry that Otas killed her rich boyfriend and so was seeking revenge through the court.

Also, it was way off to make Adesuwa angry at her sister for making their parents aware that she was pregnant. I even found it awkward that the anger lasted for 20 years. Come on, it was just a normal thing any sibling would do.

Movie doesn’t look cinematic

The lightings were not bad but they must be part of why the movie didn’t draw emotions. The lightings of the scenes involving a distressed Adesuwa were too flat. Rembrandt lighting, especially in a dark room, would have helped convey emotions. Another thing I don’t like about the movie is the color grading. It looks like a Rec709 achieved through basic color correction. The movie doesn’t have its own look achievable via LUT. Perhaps a LUT was used but dialled down to insignificance. On Netflix, I couldn’t see the closing credits, so I couldn’t tell if a colorist was used during post production of the movie.

To conclude, I’ll say the movie is the type that you watch while your attention is divided as it lacks the capacity to hold you spell-bound.