Nigerian Prince (2018) User Reviews

Interesting premise - but I didn't like how it played out

[nonnyn · 6/10 · 6 September 2020]

This is a very interesting premise and what happened to Eze has probably happened to other first-generation Nigerian-Americans.My only bugbear about this was...

SPOILER ALERT

An economy flight from Nigeria to East Coast US is - at a google - around $1,000 MAX. I hated the fact that he chose to set Wallace up instead of just explaining the situation. It's plausible that Wallace would have agreed to loan him the money.

All in all, a decent flick. Didn't like the above or the ending, though.

Fun Watch

[Tri-State_Skater · 7/10 · 7 April 2021]

The actors are all very good, and the script was decent, but there's definitely some plot holes. Budget issue are probably to blame. Overall this film did a lot with a little.

The bond between Eze and Pius is cute. I think Pius did care about Eze, but Pius was in a really bad spot, and this appeared to be his only option. Also, I wanted to hug Pius after he was whipped at the police station. I know he's a scammer, but that wasn't a proper punishment for what he was doing. It's not like he killed someone.

I don't agree with Eze's family at all. You can't just ship your kid back to your home country because they misbehave. You have to be a real parent. Eze's Mom appeared to have a good job, so she had some extra cash to spend on her son. Put him in something creative or into sports. The whole thing was questionable though. I wonder if Eze's Mom was in on the scam with Grace. Pius would be her family member too.

Also, there's definitely a theme about boys needing a Dad to steer them in the right direction. Pius' Dad died when he was very young, and now he's a scam artist. His Mom probably needed the money as well, but things got out of hand. Eze's Dad probably didn't act like a real Dad. He's a cab driver, so he ended up being less successful than the Mom. That probably made him feel incompetent, and would have affected how he was as a man. He clearly just caved to what Eze's Mom wanted to do, so he probably caved to all of his sons demands too. He was there, but was just a guy, not a Dad.

Also, I'm a woman, so I really want to point this out. Eze has to sleep in the same bed as Grace. If the genders were swapped people would be up in arms over that.

I still recommend this movie. I'm American and I've never left the country so I have no idea how well it represents Nigeria, but the movie is fun to watch.

The two main actors are American, and they're very good, so I hope I get to see them in more stuff together.

Decent film, some plot holes, clearly made on a low budget

[garretsr · 7/10 · 26 August 2020]

Full disclosure: We streamed this film in our house during Covid, so the viewing experience was different more like watching with occasional commentary than if it was in a movie theater.

The good: I generally liked the film. I found it entertaining and interesting enough to keep my attention. While watching, you could tell that it was made on a budget, but they did a good job with the film. The plot kept us interest by leaving us guessing what the characters are doing and why they were doing it. The movie was not super fast paced but there were tense moments (including violence) and things were sufficiently broken up that it did not have long dragging segments.

The bad: If I had one complaint, it would be the setup. The history of why the protagonist is sent to Nigeria is left very vague and affected the evaluation of the movie. An ancillary question to the plot is why anybody would think sending the protagonist to Nigeria was good idea? This question is so pervasive that it made it tough to suspend disbelief and tough to relate to the protagonist. Our group's speculative assessments of this issue ranged from 1. he is a young adult who, like most kids, is stuck with his parents' decisions because he is too young to legally make his own decisions, to 2. he is an evil (or amoral) thug who is on the run from his dark past. This speculation had a large impact on whether each viewer was able to identify with, and be interested in, the protagonist and what happened to him, ultimately determining how much each liked the movie. I was closer to the first group, so liked the movie more than others that watched with me.

Not good enough

[martinsdmorris · 4/10 · 17 April 2023]

I don't usually rate movies online but I decided to come rate this one.

First of, It was very obvious that Pius is not Nigerian. His accent is far from that of a Nigerian, he only trued to mimic. I had to go online to read about the actor after listening to the accent and my guess was right, he is only Nigerian by name.

Pius also doesn't have the 'ginger' and energy of a Nigerian, and a scammer at that.

Rumoukoro is in Port Harcourt, the setting of the movie is Lagos, but Wallace met Pius at Rumoukoro, how?

Lastly, are there no final checks at the airport? How is he going to fly to the US? Won't there be passport checks before final boarding? Again, Us Immigration? How does he intend to bypass them even if he succeeds in Nigeria?

How do you fly with another name, and image on your passport? He didn't even change the photo.

Too many things not adding, too many loopholes, a less than average rating for me.

So slow for a two hours thriller ...

[Aktham_Tashtush · 5/10 · 19 April 2019]

The idea of the movie is original and has potentials but the script and the directing didn't quite help .. it was a bit slow especially for the first half , then events picked up and you could feel some action going on ,, but still you can also sense some drag ,, though the ending was unexpected ,, so i gotta give them that at least.

The cast was mediocre,, the two leads , Antonio J Bell and Chinaza Uche did well but they didn't have enough chemistry to make this work .. the other characters were just okay ,,

final judgment, really good concept with below average effort by Faraday Okoro... could've done more.

Good film

[rossking-89344 · 10/10 · 19 April 2019]

I don't always give Nigerian movies a try, but this won my heart from the beginning. I enjoyed the manner the plot develops, the acting was genuine and serious. The subtle sound tracks gives the film an endearing score. I know it's not 100% giving it's an African movie rocking an African budget but the directing was really fine and intentional, the editing was professional cut. Overall I advise potential viewers to give it a chance:

Lacking reason

[Valid_ID · 5/10 · 21 May 2022]

The synopsis is that of an American-Nigerian teenager sent by his mother to Nigeria INDEFINITELY to teach him a lesson after he got into a school fight, under the pretense of his need to learn about his roots. The Nigerian cousin, a scammer himself, says to the teen that everyone in Nigeria only cares about money, and as any parent knows, the company young people keep are a huge influence. So why would a mother send her child from the US to Nigeria, in his formative years???

Moreover, if the mother cares so deeply about her Nigerian roots, how come she has no idea how old her nephew is, or what he does? She wants her sister to look after her son, without knowing how her sister took care of her own son.

The mindless plot goes on and on, but there is value in seeing some of the scams. Sadly, these scammers are shown to con not only the greedy, as the cousin says, but also their own working people, like the scam of selling rice at half price as an incentive first, then charging for the promise of getting rice at half price.

If you suspend disbelief, the rest is not so bad: acting is decent, and there's a morale.

Very good with teachable moments for kids

[grayarea-45047 · 10/10 · 16 August 2020]

I really enjoyed this movie. I didn't find it to be too slow as one reviewer said (and I can be very impatient when it comes to books and movies). If I can find the time, I hope to make a study guide and use this film with my middle grades students who don't seem to realize the creature comforts they enjoy living in the US. It will also be good to teach them that as youngsters, they don't know everything and need to listen to their parents and other adults who have their best interests at heart.

Cool movie interesting all the way through

[paulabaolin · 8/10 · 11 March 2021]

I was invested in the story all the way through and I think it also had a cool ending. Worth watching Definitely

Amazing very entertaining movie

[east-19829 · 10/10 · 17 November 2023]

I really enjoyed this film. It's no surprise that all the critics gave this film very high ratings. The critics highly approved of this film.

I enjoyed it. The acting was great. The writer, director and producer all did very excellent jobs with this film. I truly enjoyed watching Nigerian Prince about a Nigerian American teenager going back home and the excitement, challenges and adventure.

Pius was an excellent actor and I loved his character and swagger.

Okoro did it real big and real well with this film. I look forward to more films from him.

The film had great critic reviews but some regular users were I believe a bit unfair with their reviews. Well the critics don't lie!

An underrated masterwork

[millerian-02797 · 16 February 2024]

-The type of genre filmmaking American cinema used to excel at. Now it is left to a 30 year old (at time of filming) Nigerian-American to take over from where so many other American director have failed

-Where this excels it first and foremost the script. Probably one of the best written movies I've seen in a very long time. Like "Back to the Future", almost every single character, line of dialogue, or scene is meant to be either set up and payed off or be in service of moving the plot along. There is not a single wasted line, wasted character, and wasted development. Every single thing matters in this film and goddamn if that isn't refreshing to see. When even the main character's name "Eze" goes with his easy manipulated character, you know you have a perfect and well thought out script on your hands

-The direction is also excellent in this, great directing of actors, but the blocking is also fantastic. I harp on digital cinema a good amount, but when a director actually knows how use it, then I am for it. So much of this movie is creatively shot or framed, lots of wonderful characters-looking-into-camera shots during intense emotional sequences. Great use of framing for comedic moments (comedy lives in wide angle), and just really gorgeous looking movie, everything feels so perfectly handled behind the camera. I would argue Okoro's direction is on the level of Michael Mann's in "Blackhat" which is very high praise

-And along with direction & editing, this movie is perfectly paced, not an ounce of fat on this entire thing. Even a simple dialogue scene that seems unnecessary is used purposefully to detail a character's philosophy and motivations. The movie never stops moving, and yet still always manages to have time to set characters up, and have a beginning, middle, and end to every single sequence. If I were to think of it like the sports fan I am, I would say it is in equivalence to a baseball pitcher throwing a no hitter or a hockey goaltender getting a 50 save shutout. Just a director and editor both working to create a movie that despite being 101 minutes, only feels about 70 minutes long. Probably the most perfectly paced movie I've seen in a very long time, probably since maybe "Surrender Dorothy"

-Also manages to do a fantastic job creating and building a fully realized world. Nigeria is essentially a character in this, a land of well-meaning people having to deal with and service themselves in the land of scammers. And in the land of scammers, everyone is a target. But similar to "Blackhat", the country of Nigeria is so well-realized, you get a great sense of geography and what the country is about. And like with "Blackhat" every single scene at night is perfectly shot and lit, utilizing digital filmmaking to a strength

-A writer-director understanding his film perfectly at every single level, from editing, lighting, cinematography, blocking, performances, and screenplay structure. Kind of a perfect movie in all honesty. And just like another near perfect Netflix movie from the same year, "Calibre". This director has yet to make anything since, and that is such a shame.

-Anyone who misses great genre filmmaking but for some reason won't read subtitles. Not only do you not have to read subtitles, but if you own Netflix there is one of the best genre films from the last decade just sitting there. This desperately needs to be seen more.