Dice Game

The murder of a young man and the consequences this has on his loved ones and a couple.

The story takes place in West Africa and follows the event in two neighbouring households. Mr Robert (Tumbay) is a wealthy man who is married to Louisa (Julius), who is only interested in his money. Nearby, Mr Ambode lives wife his wife (Orgi) and their young daughter. Mr Ambode's brother, Gerald (Pour Bobby Pour) also lives with them and they are getting tired of his motiveless life. One evening, Mr Robert accidentally shoots Gerald dead and disposes of his body with the help of Louisa. Now the Ambode family will try to find out what happened, while Robert and Louisa will attempt to keep the truth hidden.

The low production value in this feature length thriller is quite evident, with the quality of the picture and the audio not being great. However, this is not what brings this film down.

As mentioned, this is a thriller and apparently, it takes itself seriously or at least wants to. Nevertheless, taking this film seriously would be hard and this would be because of the screenplay and the acting. The dialogue is childish and makes the characters look stupid, for instance, Mr Robert not realising that his wife is a gold digger even is she is constantly spending his fortune. The performances are unconvincing, making the scenes feel humorous, regardless of their serious subject such as talking about murder or discussing family and relationship issues. Some scenes are just plain ridiculous, including one involving an energetic pastor. The poor script makes the characters seem hollow and pretty much none of them can be taken seriously, not even the police officers investigating Gerald's disappearance.

Regarding the audio, the tense music has the obvious intention of adding tension and drama to the scenes, instead it is exaggerated and makes the scenes look ridiculous.

Interestingly, the film's title at the beginning has a gamepad instead of the letter 'M' in the word 'GAME'. Although the creativity that was utilised in order to do this is appreciated, the result is awkward and misleading as this technique implies that the story has something to do with video games and it does not.

This is a murder story and one that should not be taken seriously in order to be enjoyed. It would probably have more value if it was viewed as a dark comedy and even so, it would be a forgettable one.