Summary- A young lady’s dream is to become a famous actress. She faces several challenges but after participating in a reality show, she finally gets the fame. However, a past mistake is threatening to take it all away.
The movie started well. Simple storyline but very relatable. I liked the themes addressed, they tried to further humanize actors, we saw the actual struggles they face in the bid to become successful. The sacrifices they make, the loneliness when they eventually get to the top and most especially, how they have to smile through all the pain.
Casting and acting was the best part for me, they all did well. Nancy Isime has grown so much as an actress (I just thought I should let you know) and I think Etim Effiong is fast becoming one of my favorite actors.
Camera setting, sound, picture quality was great. I especially liked the movie soundtrack. They used Nigerian songs and the choice of songs really worked seamlessly with the flow of the movie.
Back to the story, things were going quite well, we saw the betrayal, the blackmail, I liked the relationship between Queen (played by Nancy Isime) and Hassani (played by Etim Effiong).
The moment Queen gave Delarin (played by Timini Egbuson) the beating of his life was the scene I loved the most. Suddenly,things started to go wrong.
The issues?
1. They wanted to do too many things and as a result,the story was everywhere; Love, betrayal, Murder, Cancer, Death.
2. In this movie, they did not logically conclude issues. For example, Queen accidentally killed someone 4 years before she became a star, her ex-boyfriend who recorded the video at that time released it on social media and this led to her arrest. I expected them to explore that angle in terms of the legal implications and consequences?
Anyone that kills a person must face the wrath of the law. She should have gone to jail. If they did not want her to go to jail, they should have found a better way around it. Maybe they could have said the person did not die after all, maybe the victim’s family did not want to go to court, something logical sha, but do you know what they told us? They said the main reason she would not be charged to court was because her fans were trending #FreeQueen on Twitter. What does that even mean???! It did not make any sense to me.
3. They introduced elements that they were not equipped to interpret. For example, we suddenly discovered that Hassani was dying and he had less than 1 month to live because the cancer had spread through all his organs. Queen cried and told Hassani to please marry her, they got married then he died but she was already pregnant. She eventually gave birth to twins. Did that sound familiar to you??Of course!
We have all seen similar plots in Hollywood movies but who cares if this particular twist was unnecessary and unoriginal? My main annoyance was the fact that they did not execute that aspect of the story properly.
Let me explain. Creating movies around life-threatening & fatal diseases like cancer is not easy because it must look real for it to make sense. When Hassani reconnected with Queen, the doctors already told him he had just 3months to live. Do you know what it means to have just 3months to live? He should have looked worn and weak, he should have lost a lot of weight,he should have looked sick.
There are so many cancer movies and real life stories about cancer for them to know what the last stage of cancer should look like. This man looked strong and healthy. I was so angry. Why ruin a good story by introducing unnecessary elements that you don’t have the patience and resources to interpret correctly? The hospital bed, the miserable looking oxygen tank beside his bed, I was just irritated.
Lest I forget , there were some errors I could not overlook. For example, when Queen was working at a salon and she was cleaning the lady’s hair with hot water, it was so obvious that the lady was wearing a braided wig, what would it have cost them to actually braid the hair?
How did Queen win the competition? It was like they fast forwarded that part. One minute she was giving a speech and walking out on the judges, the next minute she was being declared the winner of the reality show and I wondered why the rush? But I guess they had to rush because they wanted to accommodate another movie at the end.
The scene where Queen wanted to jump off a building, how exactly was Teni able to rescue her with just her hand from that tall building? They did not tell us Teni had any super powers so I was just wondering how?? One of Queen’s thighs is bigger than Teni’s entire body so how did she pull her up?
I’m sure they thought it looked cool to include that “scary scene”, I’m sure they even went through a lot to execute that scene but it all looked like a joke.
Plus what was that mascara smudge on Queen’s face in that scene? The makeup artist responsible for that particular look did a poor job. Queen looked like an apprentice Bat Woman. Even if she applied a whole bottle of mascara, that smudge was still a gross exaggeration.
It is undeniable that Superstar the movie was a very emotional one but they were unable to convincingly tie all the sub plots together. There were different ways they could have spinned what they already had in order to create a beautiful romantic drama without the botched attempt at a cancer story.
Superstar the movie is a good example of what happens when people don’t know when and where to stop.
Rating: 6/10
Have you seen it? Do you agree with this review? Share your feedback in the comments section below.
We have a fun and vibrant community on Instagram and Twitter, you can also join the conversation there!
