With Play Studios entering the industry to give us fresh takes on our classic movies, and after the tasty treat that was Living in Bondage: Breaking Free, they burst into the scene again with Rattlesnake: the Ahanna Story.
The movie follows the story of Ahanna: His struggle with the decayed system and economy, his getting left to suffer by his own family, how all his experiences shaped him into becoming the number one criminal in the country with a touch of Robinhood about him.
Ahanna recruits his friends and associates to his cause and they all play a part in bringing his goals to life.
The acting in the movie was spectacular and by far my favourite character was Nze (Bucci Franklin). I absolutely loved every scene he was in and he had this way of taking charge, he could have passed off as the main character so many times.
The first 30 minutes of the movie had so much in it that it was almost like you wouldn’t want to take a breath so you don’t miss out anything. However, somewhere in the middle, there was a disconnect that nearly threatened to destroy the great impression the story had already built in my mind.
It felt like the movie shouldn’t have been that long, and it also felt rushed in a way because there were scenes with mistakes that didn’t need to happen, and others with things that didn’t add up.
A particular instance was a scene in which the police opened fire on a robber shooting at them in front of the bank. Now while that normally shouldn’t be a problem, the fact that there were hundreds of innocent civilians behind the robber makes that scene a very ‘WTF’ one for obvious reasons.
While I enjoyed the story on a surface level and the cameo and crossover which makes one wonder if Play Network’s building its own cinematic universe, and the acting, I did scratch my head a few times and went in between “huh” and “okay, this is dope.”
Overall, Rattlesnake: the Ahanna Story does impress and still falls short at the same time. Regardless, the powerful performances are enough to mask most of the flaws.
Is Rattlesnake: The Ahanna Story worth watching? Yes, it is, but don’t expect your mind to be blown.