'The Set Up 2' Review: Aesthetically Pleasing But Fails To Excite

If you watched the prequel of this movie, you’d have high expectations for the second part.

From how the story was told to the effort the actors put into bringing their characters to life to how the movie was directed, the first part was a banger.

The sequel however fails to ignite that same level of excitement.

'The Set Up' 2 revolves around Chike (Adesua Etomi), Grace (Kehinde Bankole) and Usi (Nancy Isime).

The film begins with Grace happily married to her then Pastor boyfriend, and they have a child now.

Usi comes in with her girls and kidnaps Grace’s daughter so she can get across to Chike.

As expected, Grace meets Usi and does her biddings which seems to be a turnaround as it is against her organisation’s policy.

Just like the problem of many other Nigerian movies, the second part isn’t as good as the first.

It felt like the writer and director were more interested in aesthetics than actually telling a story.

For one, the story lacks depth, and there were so many unanswered questions.

This second part should not have been more than an hour because no story was told there.

To make it worse, it is reported that it has a third part, and it seems like they want to keep Nigerians coming back.

However, the problem isn’t particularly the movie having a part 3; it is that this part 2 wasn’t telling an actual story.

They only came to show us how much they’ve learnt how to fight.

Niyi Akinmolayan is a good director, and he has established that time and time again, especially with the first part. Too bad he didn't return to helm this one.

There are a few unrealistic scenes like the prison scene where Chike was to sneak Madam out of prison.

I am still wondering how that long conversation, shooting and fight happened right inside the prison with no one raising an eyebrow or other wardens coming to find out what happened. That did not make sense at all.

Also, how did Chike fight those numbers of men with her wig still intact?

We understand that she’s a guru, but that was super unrealistic.

Aside from those few errors, it was well directed.

The fight scenes were beautiful to watch, and they didn’t get boring and annoying because the directing was good. 

As much as I feel Adesua Etomi wasn’t so brutal to have taken up Chike’s character, she put her absolute best into delivering that character and has to get credit for that.

Nancy Isime made her role feel so easy and seamless. She killed it for real.

Once again, Kehinde Bankole is an exceptional actress, and we should see more of her on our screen. Her emotions and acting prowess are applaudable.

Tina Mba, Jim Iyke, Kate Henshaw, Stan Nze, Uzor Arukwe, Blossom Chukujekwu and Lota Chukwu also delivered their roles beyond satisfaction.

Every single actor in that movie put their best into interpreting their characters. 

Finally, the set, make-up and costume were good. They deserve some accolades too.

In all, asides from the lack of depth in the movie, 'The Set Up 2' was a good one, and it will get a 6/10 rating from me.