Yeasterday, I was at Genesis Deluxe cinema Lekki and Lagos for the premiere of the most aniticipated action film since this year, X-MEN,THE WOLVERINE.
The audience erupted in cheers and lengthy applause when the opening scene showed not only Nigeria but our own Lagos! The clapping hardly dies down than one of the captors of the mutants speaking a flawless Igbo! The roof nearly came down with the audience catcalls and Igbos shout of "Nwanna Nwanna"{our brother, our brother!}.
The audience agreed that the building shown in the film is the UBA BANK PLC headquaters at Marina LAGOS.

rotimy:

Yeasterday, I was at Genesis Deluxe cinema Lekki and Lagos for the premiere of the most aniticipated action film since this year,  X-MEN,THE WOLVERINE.
The audience erupted in cheers and lengthy applause when the opening scene showed not only Nigeria but our own Lagos! The clapping hardly dies down than one of the captors of the mutants speaking a flawless Igbo! The roof nearly came down with the audience catcalls and Igbos shout of "Nwanna Nwanna"{our brother, our brother!}.
The audience agreed that the building shown in the film is the UBA BANK PLC headquaters at Marina LAGOS.

I dont understand, you mean the audience believe the movie was shot in Lagos?

Well, Hollywood is not known for accuracy. It's very irritating but I guess they don't really give a damn. A remote "Igbo village" in Lagos is probably the most ridiculous thing I have seen coming from Hollywood. It's very hilarious and inaccurate. . .

grafikdon:

Well, Hollywood is not known for accuracy. It's very irritating but I guess they don't really give a damn. A remote "Igbo village" in Lagos is probably the most ridiculous thing I have seen coming from Hollywood. It's very hilarious and inaccurate. . .

LOL
I bet you Ojo Alaba in Lagos is remote Igbo village in Lagos!

it wasnt even the real lagos it was probably some deserted building in hollywood.

No, the remote village was "deeper inland" as the diamond dealer had told them.

The Lagos scene was part CGI. The Skyline was real but it was plastered against the film set to the bottom (the slum part).

Hollywood script writers suck!

they dont give a damn and they never cared to do their research well. when i saw tears of the sun i was so pissed off. a friend of mine from Rwanda hates Hotel Rwanda cos they never painted the thru picture of what happened. she said those people that were saved never got saved they all were killed actually in real life.

they never shot the film in naija. they shot it in Australia Canada and US. they know most American and their audience in their 1st world countries know very little about Lagos Nigeria.

make una wait

them speak igbo or not??

Dude its X Men 4, The Origins, Stuff like give em the cout to misrepresent.

ajekpaks:

make una wait

them speak igbo or not??

They blasted igbo like mad .

E sha gba Eko lowo wa tipa tipa. Na by force?

kay_pumpin:

ROTFLMFAO

Na true now

That scene was absolute rubbish and almost killed the movie for me.

The scene had nothing to do with marina or UBA. Where the hell in Lagos can you see a collection of shanty buildings surrounding an abandoned skyscraper??!?!? absolute fabrication, absolute rubbish.

Obviously the director/screenwriters were just doing a cash-in on the recent blood diamond inspired craze, as seen in 24 and countless other movies with 'african' locations.

This is evidenced by 24's very own IKE DUBAKU appearing as the 'Nigerian' ringleader, talking about 'Diamonds' as if we have diamonds in Naija.

The natural resource that foreigners come here to leech off of is OIL, but hollywood associates oil with Arabs and suicide bombings so they just put diamonds there instead!

Then theres the nonsense of killing villagers IN LAGOS

Jesus christ what part of Lagos are they talking about? And where in Lagos would you find a village where people need a translator and speak only Igbo? (Thank god they actually used a Nigerian language, though they got the location wrong 100%)

What would have made the scene work? Lose the military-defended skyscraper (complete fabrication as far as Lagos is confirmed), Make it a hacienda style compound with OPC-esque mufti-wearing thugs (we can asume it is somewhere in Aja, Epe, ikorodu, or wherever all those big men go to build their little empires) and make the 'villagers' speak Yoruba (more plausible that some superpowered white ubermensch could show up from nowhere and massacre them all without causing the motherload of all riots)

All they needed to do was spend a weekend or so cruising around Lagos for research and they would have done a much better job of it. As it stands, it is complete bollocks and makes it seem like they really didn't try hard for this movie.


They didnt even research the comics well anyway. the movie was pretty crap in that regard.

dakmanzero:

That scene was absolute rubbish and almost killed the movie for me.

The scene had nothing to do with marina or UBA. Where the hell in Lagos can you see a collection of shanty buildings surrounding an abandoned skyscraper??!?!? absolute fabrication, absolute rubbish.

Obviously the director/screenwriters were just doing a cash-in on the recent blood diamond inspired craze, as seen in 24 and countless other movies with 'african' locations.

This is evidenced by 24's very own IKE DUBAKU appearing as the 'Nigerian' ringleader, talking about 'Diamonds' as if we have diamonds in Naija.

The natural resource that foreigners come here to leech off of is OIL, but hollywood associates oil with Arabs and suicide bombings so they just put diamonds there instead!

Then theres the nonsense of killing villagers IN LAGOS

Jesus christ what part of Lagos are they talking about? And where in Lagos would you find a village where people need a translator and speak only Igbo? (Thank god they actually used a Nigerian language, though they got the location wrong 100%)

What would have made the scene work? Lose the military-defended skyscraper (complete fabrication as far as Lagos is confirmed), Make it a hacienda style compound with OPC-esque mufti-wearing thugs (we can asume it is somewhere in Aja, Epe, ikorodu, or wherever all those big men go to build their little empires) and make the 'villagers' speak Yoruba (more plausible that some superpowered white ubermensch could show up from nowhere and massacre them all without causing the motherload of all riots)

All they needed to do was spend a weekend or so cruising around Lagos for research and they would have done a much better job of it. As it stands, it is complete bollocks and makes it seem like they really didn't try hard for this movie.


They didnt even research the comics well anyway. the movie was pretty crap in that regard.

I'm not in any way defending the film, but the ringleader did state that the village was located "further inland, about three days." Even then, you would be correct to say that this whole segment was horribly done. I didn't know why it would take three days to get from Lagos to some village in Igboland. Even if one were going "further inland" from Lagos, they would be traveling in the wrong direction, and the village most likely wouldn't have been Igbo speakers. Anyway, you make very good points, and this movie overall was bad. I'm glad I didn't pay to see this tragedy.

3 days journey from Lagos will land you in japan or malaysia.

There happens to be a road network in this country that can get you halfway across the country in half a day.

They just didnt research ANYTHING. What bullshit.

Plus 3 days journey will surely have you cross several hundred language borders easy. Def not speaking igbo by the time u get down from di bolekaja.

Ol boy, lets just enjoy the action scenes and excuse their halfwitted research.

Why are people up in arms for? The movie is a fiction. It is therefore weird for people to expect a true representation of Nigeria in a fictional movie.

Not weird, dude.

The movie is fiction, the setting is not.

If they had said 'Sangala, Africa', we would all be happy.

Fictional movie in a nonfictional setting.  Inaccuracies are damaging no matter what. Thats why there are laws governing portrayals of certain public settings in Hollywood,  doesnt extend to foreign lands because who gives a damn about Naija

Fictional novels/stories use real names of places from time to time, but the actual setting is false. "Lagos. Nigeria" used in the movie do not automatically means there should be a true representation in my opinion. Let us take joy in the fact that out of all the other names of countries that could have used, they used us! That is enough for me.

I watched it at Odeon, and I immediately whip out my phone and emailed my brother about how pleased I was to see Naija in the movie. Perhaps that is the way to go, Just my two cents.

@Elrazur

I agree that it's nice to see the name of the country on the silver screen. Shows that there's more awareness of the region, which is good.

I also like the fact that they used a real Nigerian language, and that the SFX company outdid the producers by actually researching the region and basing the computer generated backgrounds on actual aerial photos of the Lagos skyline.

But this is a case of the bad outstripping the good. An average westerner watching this will just assume the region is another rwanda/blood diamond locale. And THAT is where the problem lies.

dakmanzero:

@Elrazur

I agree that it's nice to see the name of the country on the silver screen. Shows that there's more awareness of the region, which is good.

I also like the fact that they used a real Nigerian language, and that the SFX company outdid the producers by actually researching the region and basing the computer generated backgrounds on actual aerial photos of the Lagos skyline.

But this is a case of the bad outstripping the good. An average westerner watching this will just assume the region is another rwanda/blood diamond locale. And THAT is where the problem lies.

' Glad you see a few of my points.

I will have to disagree that your average westerner knows not to believe everything seen in a "Fictional movie". The emphasis here is the fictional movies. If it was presented as a factual movie now or based on true event - i.e the whole story - then you may have a point I would say.

ElRazur:


' Glad you see a few of my points.

I will have to disagree that your average westerner knows not to believe everything seen in a "Fictional movie". The emphasis here is the fictional movies. If it was presented as a factual movie now or based on true event - i.e the whole story - then you may have a point I would say.

I quite agree with u .

I disagree.

Movies have a profound effect on people's perceptions.

That's why there exists a stringent ratings and classifications board, and why several million dollars can go down the drain for simply making certain remarks in the dialogue of a movie.

Why do you think a work of fiction like the da vinci code got so much attention?

Wake up people: Mass media is the opiate of the masses. Ignore the power of information at your peril. Allow subversives to hide behind the banner of 'fiction' and you will be the worse for it.

dakmanzero:

I disagree.

Movies have a profound effect on people's perceptions.

That's why there exists a stringent ratings and classifications board, and why several million dollars can go down the drain for simply making certain remarks in the dialogue of a movie.

I really do not see what your points are am afraid. You are moving away from the subject matter, but allow me play along.

Yeah movie do have effect on people - it is an entertainment industry and as such, should be expected. However, in what way do movie affects people's perception? My 4 year old nephew knows that The Simpsons carton is just what it is, a cartoon and nothing more. He knows that WWF is scripted and not even real!

The ratings system is to make sure that the movies are within the boundry of the target audience. Period. A disney movie with a "U" rating is targeted at families and almost every one, hence nudity, sex and violence will be out of the question.

The point is the target audience of a fictional movie have the intelligence to realise it is nothing, but a fictional movie. Anyone who makes their assumption as facts based on a fictional movies then clearly is not part of the majority.

dakmanzero:

Why do you think a work of fiction like the da vinci code got so much attention?

Wake up people: Mass media is the opiate of the masses. Ignore the power of information at your peril. Allow subversives to hide behind the banner of 'fiction' and you will be the worse for it.

Erm media hype? The fact that people are fascinated about the book? The fact that many people like me checked it out to see what the hype is about?

You are taking the debate in a different direction am afraid. A fictional movie is exactly what it is, Fictional! To now try and claim people would probably perceive Lagos that way is just an insult to the intelligence of people in my opinion.

ElRazur:

. A fictional movie is exactly what it is, Fictional! To now try and claim people would probably perceive Lagos that way is just an insult to the intelligence of people in my opinion.

is this the first time youve seen people go crazy over inaccuracies in movies? fictional or not?

ThiefOfHearts:

is this the first time youve seen people go crazy over inaccuracies in movies? fictional or not?

If am honest, you are asking me a very broad and difficult questions. The Jews went crazy over their portrayal in The Passion Of Christ, yet in my limited knowledge the movies appears to be true to the holy book on that particular aspect.

As for this very debate at hand, it is a bit over the top to expect the movies to stay true to Lagos, simply because we got a mention in the movie. A movie that is based entirely on fiction.

I can give many instances where people went crazy even over fictional movies. It happens, if people wanna bitch about it, let them

ThiefOfHearts:

I can give many instances where people went crazy even over fictional movies. It happens, if people wanna bitch about it, let them

I guess so. lol

I didnt mind the inacuracies! I was like Igbo kwenu! lol

*sigh*

*shaking head*

I was just about to give up, but let me ask elrazur a question.

If words become harmless when labeled fiction, why then does censorship exist for fictional works?