Title: THE ENTRAPPED (1 & 2)

Synopsis: 

A young woman that feels neglected by her husband succumbs to an affair with a guy she meets at a bar. When she tries to end the relationship he blackmails her and she is faced with confessing to her husband or meeting his demands.

Review:

Demola and Mabel (Desmond Elliott and Syr Law) are a married couple with busy careers. When they’re home from work, intimacy is the last thing on Demola’s mind. After a full day of wheeling and dealing, he’s simply not in the mood. Mabel loves her husband but is in need of attention.

Mabel meets Kevin (Ilya Konstantine) at a bar. He a little off beat but persistent and Mabel is intrigued by him. They sleep together fairly soon but for Mabel it’s just physical. She loves the way he makes her feel.

Sometime later, Demola is hurt in a car accident. The thought of losing her husband causes Mabel to realize how much she loves him. She feels guilty about the affair with Kevin and breaks things off.  Kevin doesn’t except it and feels used. He resorts to blackmailing her and produces scandalous photos of her that he threatens to send to her husband. It turns out that the affair was a hoax from the start and that Kevin had an agenda and a girlfriend. Even after writing Kevin a huge check, the threats kept coming. Mabel is faced with telling her husband about the affair or allowing Kevin to dictate her life.

Let’s Talk. First off, let’s start with the pick up lines at the bar. Kevin started off with “nice party” and then went on to continue talking about “the party.” He seemed to lack personality and appeared socially awkward so it’s not clear what attracted Mabel to him.  His dialogue should have been more powerful and “gigolo like” because the motive here was to get a married woman that loves her husband to sleep with him. Mabel does sleep with him (yes, she was easy) and although she labeled it a mistake she still slept with him again at a later date.  Sigh…It happens….in movies.

There are continuity errors. There’s a scene where Mabel is rushing home to intercept mail that Kevin was sending to her husband. When she ran toward the front door it was broad daylight however when she entered and closed the door behind her it was nighttime. In that very scene, Mabel grabs the envelope from her husband’s hands and opens it. If she ran all the way home to get it and she thinks it’s incriminating enough to ruin her marriage then why would she open it in front of him? That made no sense.

When Demola was in the hospital he looked damn good for someone that just came out of surgery from a car accident. Although his foot was elevated in a cast, he didn’t have one scratch.

Overall, I thought most of the dialogue in the movie was drab and boring and at times unnecessary. The only profound lines were the quotes from Maya Angelou. The movie also seemed to double as an advertisement for Renaisance Cosmetics which is a turn-off.

What works in the movie are the really raw, emotional moments between Demola and Mabel. There’s a scene where Mabel rushes to the hospital to see Demola. She’s frantic and guilty because she just left Kevin’s place. Here, she displays a panicked wife well. Also fabulous is the scene where Mabel gives Demola bad news. He responds by saying absolutely nothing but his face says it all. Desmond Elliott can really act. I say this because I’ve seen quite a few actor/directors that should definitely stay behind the camera.

The cinematography here was great however there were plenty of grammatical errors in the subtitles.  I noticed in the club scene that the sound of the music was significantly lower so that we can hear the dialogue. Yay! Our complaints have not fallen upon deaf ears.

This is a movie where Nollywood meets Hollywood. “The Entrapped” is shot in the U.S. and it’s one of the few African movies that feature diversity in casting. RECOMMEND

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