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Film Review – Blitz Patrollie

Director: Andrew Wessels
Screenplay: Kagiso Lediga
Cast: David Kau, Joey Rasdien, David Kibuuku, Kagiso Lediga, Chris Forest, Mel Miller, June van March
Genre: Comedy
Rating: ***
Venue: Ster Kinekor, Cine 3

It’s a comedy blitz as South African cinema pays homage to movies such as Bad Boys, Rush Hour, Starsky & Hutch, and other iconic buddy cop movies, in ‘Blitz Patrollie’. Comedy greats David Kau, in his debut on the big screen, and Joey Rasdien (Material), are humbling partners fighting crime in this action packed adventure complete with shoot-outs, car chases,drug lords, hair raising stunts and a “brick sniper” running amok.
Rummy Augustine (Rasdien) and his partner Ace Dikolobe (Kau), are two police officers who have the misfortune of being stationed at one of the most chaotic police station in Johannesburg. Other than fighting crime Rummy is troubled with trying to start a family and lives with his violent and abusive mother-in-law and lazy brother in law who sponges on him and just won’t move out.
Chuck Norris wanna-be Ace can not think of anything better than to put on his “lucky” bulletproof vest which he has named ‘Dineo’ and head out to put the bad guys away. The long arm of the law definitely gets shorter when the two accidentally stumble on a massive drug haul. What ensues is a madcap escapade as the duo encounter some of the city’s craftiest crooks in a race against time to catch the bad guys and claim their place in crime fighting history.
As expected from the mind of writer and producer Kagiso Lediga, the movie is simply hilarious. Though it goes hot then cold then hot again and gets rather slow in some scenes for what is supposed to be action packed comedy, overall it is still whacky.
The movie suffers from noticeable technical weaknesses in terms of execution, especially some of the stunts. Other glitches include the soundtrack drowning out the dialogue to such an extent that  for a moment I thought there was something wrong with cinema hall. When this kept on happening over and over I knew that they had lost it somewhere. The scene where Kau jumps from a bridge to stop one of the Naidoo brothers from escaping is unbelievable to say the least, one can see it’s a dummy that was thrown and not an actual person jumping.
A cocktail of South Africa’s best comedians, both past and present makes the film a winner. The characters of David Kibuuka, Chris Forest, June van March who plays Rasdien’s bullying mother in-law and old timer, Mel Miller who plays the role of police commissioner Jappie Botha, complement one another and make the film a good watch. Well at least that’s one thing I am sure of.
The Naidoo brothers bring so much uncertainty, you would think that being drug lords or high class criminals, it would make one act tough and be a bad guy, (a real bad guy) but not for these characters. Instead they are silly and throw tantrums like toddlers and the white adopted brother in the trio is more annoying than he is entertaining.
Overall the film is a must-watch for those seeking any type of comic relief and fans of Lediga’s work will agree with me when I say there must be a sequel to this film. It is simply way too funny to end here and with a little improvement on the technical side, we will have an even better Blitz Patrollie.

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