Three Thieves: comedic ingenuity saves the day by Hope Eniayekan

Three Thieves, written by Egbemawei Dimiyei Sammy, Abba Makama (Director, Lost Okoroshi) and Africa Ukoh (Writer, Lost Okoroshi), and directed by Udoka Oyeka (Las Gidi Vice), follows the story of three frustrated young men played by Koye(k10) Kekere Ekun, Frank Donga and Shawn Faqua towing a misadventure kick-started by a drunken dare over cheap liquor in a bar. The task is exactly what you think it is: a seemingly impossible heist that will change their lives forever if, somehow, their highly incompetent selves can pull it off.

Can THREE THIEVES be described as the “movie of the year”? Definitely not. It’s quite a couple of flaws away from sitting pretty with the big guys. But owing to its residence as an accomplished member in the underpopulated action film genre, and also its slick donning of the consistently misappropriated heist tag, it deserves plaudits aplenty. The ingenuity of the comedy is a plus too.

The film’s simple, yet solid plot shows us the easily underrated complexities that trails the excuses that can turn crime into a viable business opportunity. It doesn’t try to act as a moral compass or a judge over the debacle but simply situates us with a fitting viewpoint to observe the dilemma of the average Nigerian youth whilst posing a question we are bound to struggle with if accommodated with honesty: what would you do in this situation?

The seemingly easy ‘job’ of grabbing a bag and delivering it, the simple hustle to be rich by any means necessary becomes the film’s climatic action and how do you suppose its going to end?

Guess you’d have to see the movie to find out.

In Cinemas October 4, 2019