MOVIE REVIEW: Agbara Nla remake casts old spell on new generation

A particular kind of fear only a classic Nollywood villain from the late 1990s can inspire: the kind that makes an audience laugh nervously, whisper prayers in fear, and still refuse to look away.

More than three decades after he first embodied Isawuru, the veteran Christian filmmaker Mike Bamiloye returns as the terrifying antagonist of a story that once helped define an era of Nigerian gospel filmmaking.

Yet the most remarkable thing about this remake is not simply that Mr Bamiloye has revisited one of his most recognisable roles. It is that a film built around spiritual warfare, demonic oppression and the supremacy of God’s power has become one of Nollywood’s biggest non-December releases.

Directed by Damilola Mike-Bamiloye and his brother, Joshua “Jay Mikee” Bamiloye, the film opened nationwide on 1 October, Nigeria’s Independence Day. PREMIUM TIMES reported that it generated approximately ₦71.4 million from preview screenings and another ₦99.2 million during its opening weekend, bringing its opening-frame total to about ₦170.6 million. It recorded the biggest non-December opening for a Nigerian film and the strongest opening for a faith-based Nollywood production. It has grossed ₦307.2 million so far.

But does the film’s success translate into an equally convincing cinematic experience? And more importantly, what is the secret behind the film’s success? Is it just nostalgia?

From 1993

To appreciate the ambition behind Agbara Nla: The Return, it helps to understand what the original meant to Nigerian audiences.

The first ‘Agbara Nla’ premiered in 1993 as a Mount Zion Film Productions television serial written by Mike Bamiloye. Its English-language adaptation, ‘The Ultimate Power’, followed in 1994, helping the story reach audiences beyond Yoruba-speaking communities. The production became one of Mount Zion’s defining works and helped establish the ministry’s reputation for bringing Christian teachings to the screen.

The story itself had an extraordinary journey. Bamiloye has recalled that the original production idea dates to 1987, when a project initially titled ‘Agbara To Ju Agbara Lo’ was filmed but abandoned after the cameraman reportedly disappeared with the tapes. The project revived in 1993, after Mount Zion had gained filmmaking experience, and eventually reached television audiences across western Nigeria.

Plot

The village of Muwonleru lives under the oppressive influence of Isawuru, a feared occult figure whose power extends beyond ordinary fear and superstition.

Isawuru challenges Oba Adetunji, the village king, demanding that he bow to him and pay homage as his predecessors allegedly did. When the king refuses, Isawuru makes good on his threat, destroying the royal household and beheading the monarch.

Before his death, however, the king writes to his cousin, Kola, who lives in Ibadan. The letter becomes a call to take the Christian message to a community held captive by spiritual oppression.

Kola and Bose, played by Damilola Mike-Bamiloye and Aanu Kolade Abiodun, initially evade the assignment. Kola receives a promotion that transfers him to Lagos, which he sees as an escape from the daunting mission.

The responsibility eventually falls to Olaboye and his wife, Olatomi, played by Philip Olubakin and Remilekun Mosiko. The couple must leave behind the comfort of urban life to confront the forces terrorising Muwonleru.

Olaboye’s journey to the mission is strengthened by his encounter with Engineer Ojo, whose family has experienced what the film presents as a miraculous birth after more than two decades of childlessness. The encounter helps persuade Olaboye to accept the assignment.

What follows is a familiar but compelling Mount Zion confrontation between light and darkness, featuring marine spirits, forest witches, occult rituals, and a succession of encounters designed to establish the film’s central question: whose power is truly greater?

Mike Bamiloye owns the screen

The most immediately satisfying element of Agbara Nla: The Return is its central performance.

As Isawuru, Mike Bamiloye doesn’t merely reprise an iconic character; he seems to understand exactly why the character endured in the original movie. Beyond the costume’s intimidating presence, Mr Bamiloye animates the persona that gives Isawuru his well-earned reputation, giving the villain a presence that endures even when he is not the centre of the action.

There is also an unexpectedly entertaining quality to his wickedness. Isawuru seems to relish his own reputation, and Bamiloye plays that relish with a conviction that invites nervous laughter from the audience.

Aanu Kolade Abiodun also makes a strong impression as Bose. Her performance gives the character a relatable personality. Even after she is possessed following her ill-fated friendship with Paulina, she convincingly depicts both fierce horror and vulnerable pity.

Review

The plot is straightforward in its moral architecture. Evil is real, spiritual warfare has real consequences, and faith demands more than personal conviction; it requires obedience and sacrifice.

The more interesting conflict, however, is not simply between Isawuru and the Christian protagonists. It is between the desire for personal comfort and the responsibility to confront a community’s suffering. Kola’s reluctance gives the story a human side that occasionally feels more relatable than its supernatural spectacle.

The film’s production design and costumes show an understanding that remaking a classic doesn’t mean reproducing every visual limitation of the original. Isawuru’s appearance, the forest coven, the marine queen, and the redesigned Ologosodudu evoke the visual imagination of older Nigerian supernatural films while benefiting from a more ambitious production.

The film also shows an appealing willingness to retain the narrative associated with Mount Zion’s earlier productions. Rather than disguising the film’s origins, the directors build on them, preserving the heightened performances and dramatic confrontations that made the original distinctive.

The commercial success of Agbara Nla: The Return is more than a flattering statistic. It challenges assumptions about when Nigerian audiences will turn out for local films and what kinds of stories they are willing to pay to see.

For years, December has been a key period for Nollywood releases, benefiting from holiday travel, family gatherings, and increased cinema attendance. Against that backdrop, the remake’s October opening stands out.

Agbara Nla: The Return shows that nostalgia, faith, and theatrical spectacle combine to create commercial power.

However, for all its strengths, Agbara Nla: The Return is not immune to the weaknesses of the tradition from which it emerges.

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Its runtime, estimated at between two hours and 40 minutes and three hours, is a substantial demand on the audience. The chapter-like structure provides some relief, but the film occasionally confuses duration with dramatic depth.

Certain sequences linger longer than necessary, particularly when the narrative pauses to underline a spiritual lesson that the preceding action has already communicated.

The film has a clear theological framework, and its resolution should be judged partly within that framework. But audiences unfamiliar with Mount Zion’s storytelling conventions may find the conclusion less dramatically persuasive than the preceding conflict.

Agbara Nla: The Return does not treat the supernatural as a metaphor to be explained away; it takes the existence of spiritual forces as a premise of its story and builds its drama around the consequences of that belief.

For audiences who share its theological assumptions, this approach may heighten their appreciation of the film. For others, some of its claims and dramatic choices may invite scepticism or discomfort. This matters because the film is not simply trying to entertain a general cinema audience. It is also engaging viewers whose religious convictions shape how they interpret the actions on screen.

These shortcomings do not erase its achievement. Agbara Nla: The Return has made an old story feel relevant again, even if it occasionally takes longer than necessary to make its point.

Overall, Agbara Nla: The Return shows that, beyond nostalgia, a good story that resonates with audiences still finds relevance when told with an understanding of the trends of the time.