Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010)
★ — Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010)
Let me be honest with you from the start: this is a one-star film. It has no coherent plot, no discernible acting, no technical competence to speak of, and fight scenes that look like they were choreographed by people who had only ever heard fighting described to them second-hand. And yet, here I am, still thinking about it days later. That tension, between something being objectively broken and somehow completely unforgettable, is the whole puzzle of Who Killed Captain Alex?
Part of my A-Z World Movie Tour, this was my stop in Uganda, and what a stop it turned out to be. Nabwana I.G.G. made this film on a budget so small it barely qualifies as a number, and it shows in every single frame. The lighting defies physics. The sound design sounds like it was recorded inside a biscuit tin. The green screens are not just bad, they are almost conceptually bad, as though the very idea of a green screen was described to someone over a crackly phone line and they did their best from memory.
It's famously billed as Uganda's first action movie, and I'll give it this: it earns that title through sheer, unhinged audacity. There are no rules here. There is no polish. There is just passion, chaos, and one man's absolute refusal to let the absence of resources stop him from making his movie. That spirit is genuinely admirable. I mean it. But admiring the spirit and enjoying the film as a film are two very different things, and I want to be clear about which side I'm on.
The saving grace, and the reason this has become the cult phenomenon it has, is VJ Emmie. The narrator talks you through every scene in real time, like a football commentator who has had several energy drinks and is absolutely loving his job. "Captain Alex is now fighting!" he declares, over footage of what does appear to be someone fighting. It's commentary as performance art, and it's genuinely, properly funny. Not funny in a sly, winking way. Funny in a loud, chaotic, your-sides-hurt way. The dialogue from the actors, delivered with the emotional range of a weather forecast, only adds to the surreal atmosphere. And the special effects, stock explosion footage pasted more or less randomly over scenes, are the kind of thing you have to see to believe.
So yes, it is funny. Hilariously so, at points. But I want to push back gently on the idea that funny-because-it's-bad is the same as good. It isn't. This is an awful movie. Watching it alone, in silence, with any kind of expectation that a story will be told or characters will be developed, would be a grim experience. It's a group watch, a shared event, something you put on with mates and a few beers and let wash over you like a warm, chaotic wave. In that context, it works. Outside of it, the seams show badly. If you enjoy this kind of anarchic, DIY energy, I'd also point you towards Bad Black, Nabwana's follow-up, which I've reviewed and which cranks everything up another notch.
I keep coming back to this idea of a triumph of spirit over skill. And it is that, genuinely. What Nabwana achieved out of nothing, the sheer force of will it took to make this exist at all, deserves recognition. But recognition isn't the same as stars. The film is messy, often painful to sit through if you're not in the right mood for it, and structurally it falls apart within minutes. The plot, such as it is, could be summarised on a Post-it note, and even then you'd be generous.
One star. Unforgettable. Broken. Best watched with friends, popcorn, and the lowest possible expectations. A mad, joyful, utterly incompetent piece of work that somehow carved out its own corner of film history. Uganda, you've been a trip.
Rating: ★ | Year: 2010 | Watched: 2025-09-15
Where to watch
Watch in the US
Stream: Philo · Fandor Amazon Channel · Cineverse Amazon Channel
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Nabwana IGG: Bad Black (2016)
More from Uganda: Bad Black (2016)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
