Tiger’s Tail and the Twisted Love Bravado in One City

Amara comes back to Nigeria with the intention of setting up a foundation that revives education in the children of Onigbo Community. In the process, she is caught in a feud between Snake and Tombra Tiger, which puts her life at risk when the tail of the tiger is touched.

Tiger’s Tail is a Nollywood romantic thriller directed by Victor Okpala. The movie does not go through the conventional Nollywood method of portraying love. Rather, it comes from an angle that depicts gangsterism in ghetto environments, various rounds of betrayals with a touch of romance.

Tiger (Kelechi Udegbe) and Snake (Zubby Michael) are the film’s bedrock, and their characterization shows what happens when a member of a team decides to bounce to form an opposition. Their community, Onigbo Community must deal with the clash that ensues, and this brings about a situation where there exists “two kings in one city”.

Zubby Michael’s character is most commendable. Whilst the movie depicts more of the Yoruba language, Michael as Snake is the only character that gives the Igbo vibes. At a point in the movie, he seems to resurrect the character of Nigeria’s actor, Chiwetalu Agu who is known for his relevant and irrelevant proverbs in Nollywood movies, especially when he drops some weird proverbial “Too much capping no dey full basket”. One will fall in love with Snake because his performance is convenient for the “I see, I saw. I see snake agwo,” a soundtrack by Styles, properly titled, “Loose Guard”., which is s praise song Snake’s accomplices use in showering encomiums on him.

The movie dramatizes betrayals and breakups, situations which Nigerian slang describes as “breakfast”. Some of the characters are served hot “breakfast” when they mess up. These “breakfasts” humorously happen simultaneously to Udoka (Alex Ekubo), Tutu (Tacha), and Amara (Bofie Itombra). Nonetheless, the most engaging theme is betrayal. Tiger is in a feud with Snake on grounds of betrayal. Tiger’s nephew also betrays him. However, the ultimate betrayal is by his “woman”, Poison, whose character the phenomenal Etinosa Idemudia brings to life. Her character is what a pop culture fanatic could call a “bad bitch”, and she is a crazy one.

The movie is exhilarating in many respects. However, it is poor technically in one aspect: it exhibits a technical deficiency that besets most gun scenes in Nigerian movies. This means that there is still a lot of tricks that Nigerian film makers must learn to become realistic and truly dramatic when guns blaze in their films. The absence of candor in the usage of guns leaves a discerning but patriotic spectator nonplus. This paucity is a blight on Nollywood films when it comes to depicting hardcore thriller and action.

Despite this flaw, Tiger’s Tail is an interesting watch. It steps out from the standard way of portraying romantic movies in Nigeria. It also gives a platform to rising stars like Tacha and Bofie Itombra, who play best friends in the movie. The latter’s character has more significant airtime because she is the one that causes a romantic spark in Tombra Tiger.

Tiger’s Tail is perfect for persons who love violence with a touch of romance.

Release date: July 22, 2022

Run time: 1 hour, 55 minutes

Director: Victor Okpala

Cast: Zubby Michael, Kelechi Udegbe, Natacha Akide, Alex Ekubo, Nosa Rex, Etinosa Idemudia, and Anita Joseph