3 Working Days reminded me of the Naira scarcity era in 2023 during which Nigerians had to buy their money before having cash to spend.
The movie tells the story of Onari, whose wife was killed by armed robbers, leaving him with an injured son who needed medical attention. Despite his situation, he still had to battle with a poor digital payment system and systemic failures caused by corruption.
Directed by Jerry Ossai, 3 Working Days stars Emmanuel Odunayo, Detola Jones, Romeo Horsfall, Victor Osuagwu, Tobi Makinde, Gbubemi Ejeye, Linda_Osifo, Mike Afolarin, Deyemi Okanlawon and Nancy Isime, amongst others.
The story in 3 Working Days is the type that tries to work on viewers’ emotions but fails to captivate attention because of the directing. In real life, seeing a man struggling to care for his injured son after losing his wife is enough to evoke an emotional response. However, the movie couldn’t achieve that because there was no sense of something at stake. This doesn’t take away from the acting delivered by Deyemi Okanlawon, who starred as Onari. Emmanuel Odunayo, who starred as Onari’s son, also delivered good acting, especially the part where he was having something similar to a seizure at the hospital.
The movie also struggles to deliver action moments, especially the situation between Oani and Queen, portrayed by Nancy Isime. This shortcoming was, however, covered by the good soundtrack and the simulated sounds that added tension.
If not for movie review sake, I don’t think I would have left the cinema with thoughts of the movie 3 Working Days after seeing it. I couldn’t build any connection with the movie while at the cinema. It’s almost safe to say it provides a dull cinema experience. It is just a low-budget film with no cinematic look, no color grading and nothing pleasing to the eyes. However, if the movie had just been left for YouTube, it would have been one of the best Nigerian movies on the streaming platform.
If Hollywood had handled the story idea that resulted in 3 Working Days, I will bet that I wouldn’t be able to raise criticism of the movie beyond a single point. I’ll advise the writer of the movie to focus on telling relatable stories about Nigeria, instead of stories of bank robbery, especially when there’s a lack of budget to make such a reality. Now I see why most producers prefer the romance comedy genre because it can be made interesting regardless of the level of budget put in place.
I must commend the director for putting together an array of popular actors. Yet I would advise him to spend much effort in cinematography, lighting and set designs. This is because most of the scenes looked poor due to the nothing to write home about locations. This movie will be on the list of poor movies I saw in 2024. The compilation will drop in January 2025. 3 Working Days gets a 4/10 and is not recommendable.
