As the General's men pursue them to what they believe to be a dead end, Big Daddy's IT girl decrypts the video and sends it to the military officials. Meanwhile, Big Daddy with two of her girls, including an expert IT guru, cause another distraction after getting their hands on the Black Book and a hard drive with video evidence of General Isa's men executing military officers questioning his corrupt mining of oil. Paul decides to go into the ranch unarmed to give General Isa the impression that he has surrendered. With the distraction in motion, Big Daddy's all-female army of baddies, reminiscent of the ancient West African all-women army that inspired Gina Prince-Bythewood's The Woman King, matches to the battlefield, disguised as workers, even serving water to General Isa's militants. They task the insider to create a distraction by making an explosion at a football field to free the police and military manning General Isa's ranch - where Victoria is held captive. To do that, they meet Paul's inside man who rats out the General by giving them valuable information about Victoria's location, how to access it, and where the Black Book is. Together with Big Daddy, the widow of Paul's former soldier colleague and friend, they embark on a mission to destroy the powerful General Isa and, like a less badass version of Extraction, extract Victoria. Director Effiong again scores another allegory by questioning democracies where people like Senator Dipo engage in malpractices, using the dirty money they got from the dealings to mount campaigns and propagate their evil ways by manipulating the main system for protection. Before Paul left General Isa's militant gang, he had been assigned to kill Victoria's mother, a journalist investigating a drug consignment by now-Senator Dipo ( Patrick Doyle). Paul's secret weapon is the very thing that bought him freedom before, and life: the Black Book. He is in luck because as soon as Victoria is kidnapped, Big Daddy ( Shaffy Bello), who had hesitated to help him out of fear of General Isa's brutality, arrives and changes her mind following the General's attack on her "business." This decision tips the scales in Paul's favor. Seeking his redemption, Paul not only wants to take down the powerful corrupt elements in the system that caused his son's death but also, perhaps feeling the need to right wrongs, wants to protect Victoria. When she finally gets the confession from Paul himself that he is the one who killed her mother on General Isa's ( Alex Usifo Omiagbo) order, she becomes enraged and leaves carelessly, leading to her kidnapping by General Isa's gang. Hiding in a tight space as Paul easily makes mincemeat of Angel's men, Victoria sees articles about her and her mother pinned on the wall, an indication that Paul knows something that she doesn't. Victoria first gets a hint of who Paul is when Angel ( Sam Dede) and his men come knocking with guns blazing, baying for Paul's blood while she is working with him at his place. Like Tom McCarthy's biographical film, Spotlight, which had journalists investigate child abuse by Catholic priests in the real-world-inspired Boston scandal, Effiong's The Black Book has Victoria Kalu ( Ade Laoye), a journalist keen to reprise her late mother's fearless investigative legacy, for which she was murdered. Throughout cinema, as in the real world, journalism has been a key ingredient in unraveling secrets hidden from the public. Like an injured buffalo, when his request is denied, he decides to take the law into his own hands and teach the powerful, dangerous men a lesson. Paul Edima at first believes that he is being punished for his past mistakes and is willing to let the matter rest if those who framed his son will confess to it and allow him to bury him. But all hell breaks loose when they find out that the young man they killed is the son of the most dangerous man in the country. The corrupt police officers who released him from prison decide to kill Damilola to appease members of the public and to lay the matter to rest. The politician's son's description of "tall, dark, and with dreadlocks" fit Damilola. Paul Edima ( Richard Mofe-Damijo), a recently widowed, retired mercenary soldier who has taken up a career as a deacon at his local church, is rattled when his son Damilola ( Olumide Oworu), is killed by rogue police officers keen on covering up for a corrupt politician's son caught in a kidnapping scandal. The Black Book is like the story of a wounded buffalo that is getting poked. When tourists go on a safari, they are warned to stay away from buffaloes, which are the most dangerous of the big five - particularly the ones that are parenting or wounded - as they are prone to fearless attacking at the drop of a hat.
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