Movie Review: Pascal Aka’s “Interception” lights the spark for Christmas

What a good way to start this festive season.

After all the hype, teasers and that agonizing wait, Interception finally premiered. And we can confidently say.. IT WAS WORTH the wait. This new wave sweeping across the Ghana Movie industry definitely has us movie lovers excited and Interception has given us more hope on the growth of the industry.

Interception centers on a tactical team of highly trained ex-military men (Special Ops Team) handpicked from the Army by the Vice President of Ghana for special assignments who are faced with the daunting task of bringing down a desperate arms smuggler and his notorious affiliate.

The perfect underlying story for an Action Thriller.

Yes… this isn’t your everyday Ghanaian movie storyline. It is certainly refreshing and encouraging to see something of this quality written and produced by a Ghanaian team. A few months ago Cartel: The Genesis (Read our review here) was released and received with mixed comments. It’s easy for anyone to compare these two movies as they both fit in the same category; Action Thriller. But believe us when we say.. They are not the same.

Nina Lalwani’s script for Interception can never be overlooked by any movie lover as it goes beyond an average meaningless action blockbuster.  We get to see not only a good action flick but a well detailed story that carefully blends individual lives and plots to give you the right doses of excitement, entertainment and thrill. These are elements any great movie should have. And Nina’s script has the mix right. She really does need to be acknowledged for putting something like this together. We can’t wait to see more from her.

This movie boasts of a lineup of very good actors. Whoever was responsible for assembling this cast did an excellent job.  The dialogue from the characters was perfect and you could easily tell they each understood their roles well enough. It was a delight seeing Adjetey Annang in another action movie. John Dumelo did handle his business right as the “loverboy” he is most known for, but this time in a completely different setting that challenges him to show more of his acting prowess.  Both Chris Attoh and the beautiful Ama K Abebresse were stunning in their roles as well. Ama’s portrayal of an adventure seeking and naïve Raquel was flawless. Chris on the other hand, we believe, has cemented his status as one of Ghana’s most passionate and versatile actors with his role in this one.  Most impressive of the cast line up was TV personality Benny Blanco who makes his first feature film appearance as the desperate arms dealer, Obajinze. His cool and calm personality did reflect in his role and his delivery was impeccable. We would be looking forward to seeing more of him on the big screen.  Also noticeable was the performance from upcoming actor Jeffery Forson who is soon likely to become one of the ladies favorites. His interpretation of Patty’s character was spot on.

Anyone familiar with Pascal Aka’s work would agree that he is an ace when it comes to directing as he has an impressive list of music videos and short films to show.  We dare say that, he has just thrown a directorial challenge and we are waiting to see who steps up to match his work on Interception. Right from start to end, this movie keeps the right pace. Nothing was taken for granted, compromised on or exaggerated. The cinematography in this title is different and compliments the script’s quality and depth. Anyone would be more than impressed with his directorial input on this. And he still managed to overly impress us with his role as Matador, Obajinze’s notorious affiliate.

One of the strengths of this movie would be the attention that was given to the minor, most overlooked details of making a good movie. The quality camera angles and lighting where not compromised with in any way and the whole editing and final production was on point.  The background score was the best we have heard or noticed in any Ghanaian movie. Although we seem to think it would have been better if some original Ghanaian songs/soundtracks where fused in some way.

The costuming and props for the special ops team was very good besides the choice of communications devices.

Interception was shot sometime in July 2014 and it has taken this long to be released. So it is quite obvious how much effort and commitment was put into the making of this movie. Right down from the choice of locations to the well-executed fight scenes.

The only thing missing for us was some mind blowing stunts or high speed chases. We can only be optimistic that with a much bigger budget we can get something of that sort from the makers of this movie in their next shot at the Action Thriller genre. There is no doubt that they would deliver if given the opportunity, judging from the overall quality of this movie.

The narrative from the closing scene of this movie was definitely worth it. It showed the script’s subtle messages of valor being one the characteristics of us Ghanaians and Africans as a whole.

Besides some minor continuity and factual errors this movie can be described as perfect in many ways and a huge step up from Ghanaian movie mediocrity.

This is certainly a movie made for the big screens and would be best enjoyed at the cinemas.

Judging from the turnout on the first night of its premiere, the applause and cheers after it ended, there is no doubt that Interception did live up to a lot of people’s expectations.

#GhMoviefreak wouldn’t hesitate to score this movie a very well deserved 9/10 as it did match up to all the hype. We know this is just the beginning of what to expect from Nilani Media and Breakthrough studios  and we would be patiently waiting for their next release.

You should do well to go see this movie as it would be showing at the cinemas throughout this festive season. And be on the lookout for dates of when it would screening near you.

Watch trailer below