“Labake Olododo” Struggles With Its Own Identity

Iyabo Ojo’s “Labake Olododo”, which hit Nigerian cinemas on March 28, has been racking up numbers at the box office and social media buzz, crossing the N100 million mark in no time. It’s a feat worth noting. It shows that there’s growing demand for high-stakes Yoruba-language films with strong marketing and star-studded casts. But when all the noise settles and the glitter fades, what’s left is a film that started with a solid idea and then got lost in its own confusion.

If anything, “Labake Olododo” plays  a reverse Samson and Delilah tale except this time, the woman’s power is stripped not by cutting her hair, but by manipulating her heart, and also it’s a man, Jaiyeoba, who’s carefully planted to bring about the fall of a woman warrior. It’s not a bad idea. In fact, the concept of a powerful female warlord being betrayed through love is a refreshing spin for Nollywood, especially considering how rare it is to see women in such commanding, action-heavy roles.

Unfortunately, the execution doesn’t live up to the promise. For a story centred on such an unconventional female lead, the film stumbles through her backstory and development, and by the time it tries to wrap things up, it’s raised more questions than it answers.

We’re introduced to Labake as a battle-hardened, spiritually fortified warrior who leads armies and protects the fictional kingdom of Lukosi with an iron will. She’s earned her place through blood, sweat, and ritual; both literal and symbolic. But the problem is, we’re told all of this, not shown. In the two-hour-plus runtime, Labake gets only one battle scene to demonstrate the strength she’s supposedly feared for. The next time she faces danger, she’s defeated almost instantly. Her arc as a warlord is rushed, and her supposed reputation doesn’t quite translate on screen. For a character carrying the weight of the title, she’s oddly underwritten.

The film’s title, “Labake Olododo”, which loosely translates to “Labake the Righteous,” is another point of disconnect. The righteousness of Labake never quite lands. This is someone who deliberately deceives another kingdom and initiates a war under false pretenses. It’s hard to find any form of moral uprightness in her choices. If anything, she’s as cunning and manipulative as the enemies she fights. And maybe that was the point to present a morally grey character. But the film never leans into that ambiguity enough to make it meaningful. Instead, we’re left with a title that sounds cool  but doesn’t reflect the character we actually watch.

At the heart of the film’s unravelling is the character of Jaiyeoba, the man who gets close to Labake, seduces her, and ultimately helps bring about her downfall. It’s eventually revealed that he’s connected to Princess Adesewa, who is seeking revenge for the deaths of people she loves; her father, brother, and lover. But instead of this revelation bringing clarity or depth, it only adds to the muddle. Jaiyeoba’s motivations and relationship with Adesewa are never explored enough to make his betrayal sting.  How did she convince Jaiyeoba to help her? What’s his personal stake in all this? Was he manipulated too, or fully aware of his role as a weapon of revenge? These are questions that matter, but the film seems too busy with surface-level twists to answer them. The more it tries to do, the less it says.

Jaiyeoba feels more like a plot device than a character, and that becomes a recurring theme throughout the film: people placed strategically to make the revenge plot work, but not fleshed out enough to feel like real human beings.

Which brings us to the pacing. For a film that’s 2 hours and 22 minutes long, “Labake Olododo” somehow manages to feel both too fast and too slow. The opening scenes are confusing, to put it mildly. It takes forever to make sense of what’s going on, and by the time the story starts to gain traction, it veers off again into another disjointed direction. The structure feels like a series of loosely connected events, held together by aesthetics and surface-level dialogue. There are sparks of brilliance,the revenge planning is a high point, with its strategic placement of characters and long-game deception, but it’s short-lived. That momentum fizzles out before the film can stick the landing.

There’s also the issue of the film not trusting its own ending. After Labake is exposed and imprisoned for her crimes, despite the nuance behind her actions, the kingdom she fought for quickly turns against her. And then… nothing. No real reckoning, no thematic closure, just the vague sense that this might all be a setup for a sequel. It’s frustrating, because the story feels incomplete, as though the filmmakers got halfway through a thought and decided to let the rest be answered in Labake: Part 2 or some spin-off universe. Which would be fine if the film had clearly marketed itself as part of a franchise. But it didn’t, so this feels more like a cheat.

Even the decision to throw in nudity a scene that features very obvious prosthetics—feels out of place. It wasn’t necessary for the plot and served no real function other than to raise eyebrows. If anything, it felt like a jarring attempt to create controversy or “mature content” in a film that was already struggling with identity.

On a more positive note, the acting is one of the few saving graces. Iyabo Ojo is clearly committed to the role of Labake, and while the writing does her character no favours, she still manages to bring a certain intensity to the screen. The supporting cast; Femi Adebayo, Ibrahim Chatta, Olumide Oworu, Wumi Toriola, Yinka Quadri deliver solid performances that occasionally breathe life into the dragging plot.

Ibrahim Chatta’s character, once again, gets the fortification treatment ,  the same spiritual armour storyline we’ve seen him play in “Jagun Jagun”, “Agesinkole”, “Orisa”, and more. He wears it well, no doubt, but at this point, it’s beginning to feel recycled. Yoruba cinema has to start asking more of its male leads than just chanting incantations and becoming untouchable. It was compelling the first few times. Now, it’s predictable..

There’s also a decent use of comic relief sprinkled throughout, thanks to appearances by Cute Abiola, Broda Shaggi, and Kamo State. Their scenes aren’t always well-timed, but they do offer a breather from the weighty confusion. You almost get the sense that “Labake Olododo” didn’t quite know whether it wanted to be a serious epic or a crowd-pleaser. It tries to be both, and ends up being neither.

Technically, the film looks good. The costumes, set design, and general look of the production show clear effort and attention. The ambition is there. But once again, the foundation; the writing lets everything down. It’s like building a Castle on quicksand. You can’t admire the beauty without noticing the cracks.

“Labake Olododo” is a film with an excellent concept that deserved better execution. The idea of a female warrior being used and betrayed by love? That’s powerful. That’s different. But the film doesn’t dig deep enough into that theme. It teases greatness, but never commits to it. Instead, we’re left with a cinematic cocktail of half-baked backstories, disconnected plot points, and a central character who deserved more care than she got. It’s watchable, yes, and even occasionally gripping. But it’s also frustratingly uneven, like a jigsaw puzzle forced together with pieces that don’t quite fit.

If “Labake Olododo” ends up birthing a franchise, hopefully the next installment will give us the clarity and emotional depth that this one only hinted at.

Release Date: March 28, 2025

Runtime: 2 hours and 22 minutes

Streaming Service: None, Cinematic Release

Directed by: Biodun Stephen

Cast; Iyabo Ojo, Scarlet Gomez, Femi Adebayo, Yinka Quadri, Fathia Williams, Eniola Ajao, Olumide Oworu,and Muyiwa Ademola.

TNR Scorecard: