- Iyabo Ojo's movie, Labake Olododo, hit the cinemas on March 28 and is on its way to crossing the N100 million mark
- The movie features popular faces such as Femi Adebayo, Afeez Oyetoro, Wumi Toriola, Tayo Faniran, Ibrahim Chatta, Abeni Agbon, Yinka Quadri, Olumide Oworu and Iyabo Ojo herself
- TheRadar reviews the Biodun Stephen-directed movie as it joins the growing list of Nollywood epics in recent years
After months of build-up and anticipation, Labake Olododo, the movie brainchild of the self-acclaimed Queen Mother, Iyabo Ojo, finally hit the cinemas, and it has wasted no time in picking up the pace.
In its opening weekend alone, starting March 28, the Biodun Stephen-directed movie garnered N50 million in box office revenue, giving it one of the biggest openings in 2025. Celebrities have also jumped on the publicity bandwagon to sell the movie to the nooks and crannies of social media.
But beyond the glam and gram, how does the movie perform from the perspective of a viewer and is it worth setting 2 hours 22 minutes for?
The story of Labake Olododo
The Iyabo Ojo-produced movie, which is being distributed by FilmOne Group, explores the life of a heavily fortified woman warrior, Labake, who leads a team of warriors to win wars, uphold the defence of her town Lukosi and ultimately give them prestige and an unstoppable status among kingdoms.
Over the course of the movie, the stony warrior melts, encounters love but suffers a fatal betrayal.
What ‘Labake Olododo’ excels at
For Labake Olododo, you could tell that Iyabo Ojo gave it her all, from the storyline to the setting to the cast. The cameos by the likes of Cute Abiola, Broda Shaggi, Kamo State, Afeez Oyetoro and Ibrahim Chatta ostentatiously helped to drive publicity for the movie and boost the cast’s star-studdedness.
The storyline, overall, is an interesting one. Its intrigue grew as time wore on and did enough to keep viewers glued to their seats for 142 minutes. The infusion of humour was also brilliant. The rigidity of Labake provided a good source of comic relief, and it is safe to say Iyabo Ojo couldn’t have done better in the character, as a frigid figure found herself falling in love.
The plotting of the revenge was also good to watch. The idea certainly didn’t come from an average Nollywood mind. Seeing the extent to which the plotters went, the deliberate placing of people in strategic places for the sake of vendetta was an indicator of growth for Nigerian films – an Eureka moment that made one feel like screaming that “this is how we said you people should be thinking, not the shoddy, rushy way of reaching denouement.”
The weaknesses of Iyabo Ojo’s Labake Olododo
For all the impressive points of Labake Olododo, there were some apparent struggles. While the title is not surprising, given that it’s Iyabo Ojo’s work, it does feel like a 2005 christening. Throughout the movie, one struggles to see where the ‘Olododo’ – meaning the righteous one – comes to effect.
Labake is valiant but not righteous. She deceitfully waged war against a neighbouring kingdom, Olugbon, and, of course, refused to help them fight their unknown enemies because she was behind it in the first place. While ‘olododo’ probably sounds cool with Labake, the usefulness of the word is lost on viewers.
Before viewers could understand the relevance of the opening scene of the movie, it took the entire film itself. One would even have forgotten that there was an opening scene before linking it to the closing scene. In fact, one struggled to understand like the first three scenes of Labake Olododo.
Also, the White man used as the school superintendent was definitely not British (or American) in any way. He sounded like a second speaker of English and not a native speaker. It is popular history that the British introduced Western education to Nigeria. The film didn’t do due diligence in this regard and seemed to have borrowed one White-skinned fellow on the street.
And one last thing, is Ibrahim Chatta making himself the evangelist of fortification? It seems that all the movies he’s been appearing in recently have all had the theme of ritual fortification. From Jagun Jagun, Agesinkole, to Orisa, Lakatabu (The Monster), and now Labake Olododo, the motif has always been that the lead character gets fortified, becomes indestructible but later indulges in the taboo that comes with their extraterrestrial powers.
Final thoughts on ‘Labake Olododo’
Labake Olododo is worth watching, no doubt, and it is a sign of progress that the old guard has what it takes to remain relevant in 2025. Iyabo Ojo, alongside her daughter Priscilla and Tanzanian singer Juma Jux, has dominated headlines for plenty of issues except for movie-making, which brought her to the limelight in the first place.
She was also in the middle of the Mohbad saga and turned TikTok into a movie set. Like Mercy Aigbe in Farmer’s Bride, many have forgotten how remarkable an actor Iyabo is.
Movie Review: Everybody Loves Jenifa so much they ignore its disjointed plots
Earlier, TheRadar reviewed Everybody Loves Jenifa movie by the famous Funke Akindele. The movie broke all sorts of records at Nigeria’s box office and became the highest-grossing Nollywood ever.
Although there were reservations with its plot and character development, the movie once again reinforced the star power of Funke Akindele, Jenifa.
