The Waiter tells the story of Akpors, a hotel worker who is caught in the middle of hostage-taking by criminals angry at the government’s unfavourable policies. He has to wiggle himself out of the situation using every necessary skill, including his tongue.
The Waiter is a Nollywood movie that combines comedy, drama, and action. It is the latest instalment in the Akpors franchise created by AY Comedian.
The movie, directed by Toka McBaror, features Ayo Makun, Toke Makinwa, Regina Daniels, Shady Bello, Buchi Franklin, Deyemi Okanlawon, and Kunle Remi, to name a few.
As much as I like certain things about the movie, I feel it is a copy of Hollywood. The action in the movie is not Nigerian but an imitation of Hollywood action movies. Yes, Hollywood is the standard, but that doesn’t mean we must copy them blindly. Their kind of action fits their stories and environment. Bollywood matches Hollywood to a large extent, but you will hardly see Bollywood imitate Hollywood when displaying its own action. In a nutshell, despite having commendable stunts and action, The Waiter didn’t feel original. It is not us.
I remember a scene where Akpors wiggled himself out of the grip of kidnappers and walked away from a cab that exploded. The camera movement and the way he walked were typical of James Bond. It didn’t feel original but an imitation of Hollywood.
I must commend the locations used, especially the hotel scenes and the set design in this movie. What stood out for me is the lighting, which made the movie almost feel Hollywood. It’s such a technical aspect we ought to copy from Hollywood, not their kind of action, which is not African. The colourist of this movie must have used a warm LUT to dictate the even look of the colour grade we see in the movie. That’s another commendable aspect of the movie.
The dialogue in this movie is too poor for a hostage-taking film. Sometimes it just stretches unnecessarily, especially in the political commentaries. The concept of The Waiter is not original but all too familiar. Even Hollywood doesn’t make hostage films anymore; it’s simply played out.
The action in this movie, especially the fights, was lame. Most of the fights were unnecessary. It felt like the directors just wanted to show Nigerians that they can now coordinate fight scenes well in movies.
Akpors tried to put his comedy flair into the movie, but I didn’t find it amusing as it felt flat. Don’t get me wrong, one or two scenes may have been amusing, but they lack the power to make the movie memorable. We all still remember the Hollywood movie Home Alone today. I bet that if you watch The Waiter, you will hardly remember any of the amusing scenes days after. This is because the bland parts were too much. If not for the sake of reviewing the movie, I wouldn’t have headed for the cinema because I was already tired of movies by AY Comedian. This year should serve as an eye-opener for movie producers that people are now tired of comedies and dramas; they want solid storytelling, as seen in Seven Doors. The kind of comedy and drama Nollywood has been making lately has been the type that has left no impact on viewers. They don’t get talked about on social media except by sponsored influencers. Akpors is another franchise like Jenifa and Alakada, which all got new instalments this year, and the others released almost every year. It has become tiring. We are tired of laughing or forcing ourselves to laugh. Give us overwhelming stories.
The Waiter is the kind of movie you watch when there aren’t better movies available. However, it is a movie cinematographers can learn from because of the good lighting, especially in the night scenes. It gets a 6/10.
