Directed by Chee Keong Cheung and written by leading actor Razaaq Adoti, Nigerian soldier Zion Ladejo, haunted by his past, returns home after his sister’s tragic death. Determined to uncover those responsible, he embarks on a vengeful path, while seeking redemption for his own actions. Also starring: Iretiola Doyle, Philip Asaya, Taye Arimoro, Sunshine Rosman, Patience Ozokwor and Sharon Rotimi.
The simplest way to talk about Son of the Soil is to recognise that this is a particular kind of cinema, it’s made to be traditional, B-movie style action, so your expectations need to match that energy, to get the most out of it. It’s aimed directly at viewers who love that kind of adrenaline-fuelled, foul-mouthed, aggressive, violent kind of cinema. So, you know exactly what you’re getting, and if that’s not for you then it’s unlikely you’ll get much out of this one.
It opens on a bit of a strange note which feels more like a detour than an introduction. It attempts to build a bit of background to the story but it’s not really necessary. So, it does take it a little bit of time to get settled in but that’s definitely helped by the performance from Sharon Rotimi. It’s a real shame her part is inherently brief due to her character’s death being the catalyst for this story, as she brought a good amount of personality and intensity, and a sincerity which the rest of Son of the Soil doesn’t quite manage to match.
After that, it becomes fairly familiar, it’s a quintessential tale of vengeance, all leading up to one final showdown, which is more of a backyard brawl with added weapons, but it works. However, it is fairly drawn out, it could have potentially been more effective if it had slimmed the runtime down by twenty minutes or so. Particularly because Chee Keong Cheung likes to employ unnecessary flashbacks, even when it’s memories of scenes that happened maybe ten minutes prior. The editing is also fairly heavy-handed, which undercuts the action, and Cheung’s direction has a jittery quality, it never wants to settle down, it’s relentlessly moving, even when it doesn’t serve the scene.
Son of the Soil is made exclusively for dedicated action fans, as the filmmakers really played this one by the book. Razaaq Adoti makes for a decent lead, although his wandering accent is a little distracting and it’s unclear why he couldn’t have simply kept his British accent, as the American one is basically a cliché of action cinema at this point. The writing’s overly aggressive tone is a little tired, particularly in the hatred and abuse of women, but that is fairly normal for this type of film. It runs a little long and there’s no real surprises in store, but it does the job it set out to do.
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