In this crime thriller co-directed by Muyiwa Adesokun and Carmen Ike–Okoro, Timini Egbuson stars as the titular Shina, a young taxi driver with a tight deadline to raise money for his critically ill grandmother’s surgery. The film is set in Lagos amidst the rising political tension preceding the state election. As Shina struggles to gather the funds needed to perform this surgery, he somehow finds himself caught up in the dangerous web of a crime lord, which sets off a chain of events beyond his control.

Before the night when we see Shina bring his grandmother to the short-staffed hospital led by the kind-hearted Dr. Morenike (Linda Ejiofor) and Dr. Bakare (Segun Arinze), there’s a Shina that was previously part of a cult ring that terrorised Lagos. We do not know this until his path crosses with the film’s villain, BB (Akin Lewis). The Shina we meet as the film opens is a young and hardworking taxi driver whose goal is to raise the money needed for his grandmother’s surgery. Like Dr. Morenike, we are immediately drawn to his predicament as a struggling young man as well as his frustrations, especially when he is stopped and harassed by the rogue police. In fact, how relatable his experience is would make you initially root for him.

The first thirty minutes of this film unfold slowly although the suspense is quite solid. We don’t know if Shina’s grandmother will make it before her grandson arrives with the money, and we fear for Shina’s life in his scuffle with the police officers. It sets our hopes up and we follow earnestly to see where it all leads. But unfortunately, things start to fall apart right from the second act which is quite often the case when a film is entangled in a complex plot that overwhelms the narrative flow.  

As Shina scrubs the city to meet the deadline, he is seized and brought before BB, a highly connected criminal lord with a score to settle with Ugo (Tope Tedela), Shina’s friend. After he is forced into a dangerous operation with the promise of having his grandmother’s medical bills settled, Shina finds himself caught up in the middle of a political tragedy.

Despite its strong star cast and potential to weave a gripping narrative, Shina fails to impress. While Timini puts in a good shift as the lead, sadly the script confines him to a one-dimensional character that lacks depth and subtlety. His co-star Linda Ejiofor (Doctor Morenike) shines as the moral compass of the story. Her faith in Shina despite external pressure is strong. This is quite ironic since Shina is complicit in her personal tragedy as we will discover later. Other supporting cast members like Segun Arinze, Akin Lewis, Shawn Faqua and even the brief appearance of Kelechi Udegbe provide the much-needed variation to the sometimes monotonous moments in the film.

Shina is an average crime drama and that’s just about it. It is neither original nor ambitious enough to reinvent the genre. The unconvincing backstory does not carry the emotional weight of the protagonist’s past mistakes that would make him deserving of a chance at redemption. The police harassment scene is unbearably boring and long and need not be since it does not contribute any real purpose to the movie or characters other than being a scene filler. And of course, trying to live up to its genre as a crime thriller, there are few surprises that we don’t see coming. Still, it is executed in that cliched sense of plot twists that feels as though the makers deliberately chose to insert them there and have us praise their cleverness when the twists unfold.

This film’s failure lies not only in its poor scripting but execution. It tries to weave too many plot lines and only manages to deliver one of them. While Shina had enough elements at its disposal to create a compelling narrative, with twists and turns, thanks to the lousy treatment, none of the moments that are supposed to be thrilling make us feel so.

Shina premiered on Netflix on June 14.

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Side Musings

• It’s always two corrupt police officers at the late-night checkpoints and it’s already a cliche.

• Ayo was supposed to kill the target, and he had a chance to but he didn’t just for the element of surprise.

• The club shooting scene was unnecessary and theatrical. The sound quality of that scene too was very poor.