the audience applauded

From my favorite movies..

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Its been almost a year since this film came out and an unbiased review is certainly easier to attempt now than ever before. Whoever watches this now or in the future have to understand that the film premiered a mere week after the Dana Air disaster which saw a Douglas MD-83 plunge into Lagos killing 150. Naturally the film was bound to face severe scrutiny in its homeland. A lot of those "vibe"s have settled and the film remains a landmark and one of a kind on its own right.As of 2013, Nigeria is mostly producing films which are deeply rooted in a homemade video culture which is hard to grasp by the westerner. Although I personally believe this country, under the right political vision, can be made into a gold mine for film, it is more than realistic to say that all that we have, for now, is a very productive although sub-par industry which most of the times calls films, what are in fact just video productions. In this climate, Last Flight to Abuja stands out for its quality, film-like screen presence and ambitious non-linear narrative as well as brilliant cinematography. It is also fair to say that Omotola, Kae-Kazim and Monjaro in particular, pull out some larger-than-life performances. I might as well add that these are actors who in all fairness, belong to a better industry, and its only a shame we don't get to see them at all in bigger productions. Last Flight also boasts great camera work which truly sets it on a league of its own. I believe the producers truly took quality to the forefront by shipping two Arri Alexa from Los Angeles for the shoot. The script which sits at the core of the film, was considered for a BAFTA nomination, and although it failed to realise the part in the end, it nevertheless stands as tribute to the quality which was put into this production and how this was appreciated beyond Nigeria.The film was shot in a mere 14 days which is next to nothing for a story of this scale. This certainly stops the film from building into a true epic size, which perhaps would have been needed taking into account the subject matter. Still to this day, its casualty-free ending (only affected by the loss of the film's one villain) , is going to leave more than one unsatisfied. Although with foresight, there's not knowing if a bloodier end would have ever seen the film out. Considering how close the release was to the Dana Air disaster, that would have certainly been too much an impact for anyone to watch.My last word is for director Obi Emelonye, who grabbed, with this film, a phenomenal success, beating The Dark Knight Rises and other blockbusters, in most theatres in Nigeria and Ghana. It is difficult to put a mark on Obi's cinematic impact in his country and beyond. We will have to wait another few years for that and see how Nigeria's film industry grows from this experience. Let me underline here that Obi's true legacy is not only that of his film's artistic value but also that of having restored confidence of Nigerian audiences in their own films. One can only wish that other Nigerian filmmakers will build on this same ground for a much brighter Nigerian film future.

To say the obvious, Last flight to Abuja was said to be based on true event – as referring to the air mishaps in Nigeria.However, in comparison,the only thing that matched the tag "true events" was that there was a plane crash. All characters in the movie are fictitious. More so, of all the commercial plane mishaps that occurred in Nigeria, there hasn't been any report of survivors as all passengers died. This is greatly in contrast with the movie's finale, as there were survivors. Multiple if i may add, which is quite unrealistic for a commercial airline's crash.Must I add that this is the first African movie to be shot within the confines of an aeroplane. Minus, the originality, a huge thumbs up to Obi for giving us something new. in Previous Nigerian movies, we only see planes taking off, or landing when a character wants to be buttressed as travelling or just arriving.lolThe CGI (computer generated imagery) was nearly okay i.e the outside view of the plane in the skies, but I feel it could have been better though – definitely calls for more research for 'future like' projects. It looked more like a cartoon most times and thought the focus would have just been best if stayed in the inside of the plane/cockpit rather than a fake plane and sky.Conversations on-board went smoothly, usual jokes and chitchats. The script in that note was awesome. Also the side discussions – we all know Nigerian gossip, so it was good incorporating that too in the movie, like when the flight crew were arriving at the check-point, we could see a would be passenger saying jealously ' I hate pilots. Lol.There wasn't any wasted scene in the movie. Each scene begat another and explained it hitherto. I think that's what kept the movie going. Wonderful performance from the cast especially Omotola, hakeem, jide kosoko and Iyke. This does not still mean we aren't yearning for new faces in more major roles in flicks.However, simple flaws that were left unoted was the application of Ipads and Iphones and recent automobiles in a movie that was set in 2006.Last flight to Abuja. A good but just another forgettable movie. Its still definitely worth the while.