Chika Lann’s ‘The Millions’ Is Barely a Heist Film

Marking her mark in the film space, popular ex-international model, Chika Lann makes a comeback to the limelight with heist film, ‘The Millions’, a year after her N40 million hairdo claim broke the internet.
The film sees the fair-skinned beauty in the producer’s seat for the first time. The film, which was shot in Lagos, Kaduna, and Abuja, tells the story of a charismatic con man who carries out the supposedly ‘biggest heist in history’. It stars Ramsey Nouah, Ayo Makun, Blossom Chukwujekwu, and Nancy Isime in leading roles.
‘The Millions’ revolve round Bem Kator (Ramsey Nouah), a con man who finds himself in a conundrum after he defrauds an unsuspecting fellow that stole money from a close relative to meet Bem’s demands to make him rich. Afterwards, Bem is confronted by the notorious relative who threatens him to return his money. To offset his debt, Bem reconsiders an earlier offer to carry out a heist that involves burgling an apartment to retrieve the sum of $42 million.
‘The Millions’ presents its plot in a convoluted pattern with blurry details which was intended to create suspense, but turned out to be confusion. Whilst heist films are usually marked by out-of-the-box ideas of its perpetrators, ‘The Millions’ chose to prioritise each person’s ulterior motive in the robbery scheme.
On characterisation, Nouah projected a plausible character, but his effort was flawed by the script’s inability to make him appear invincible enough to face any substantial challenge or a vulnerable moment where he almost breaks.
The rest of the crew also held their own delivering lines that match the character they portray. However, this can’t be said of Lann, who also starred in the movie. Her character bears the special ability of appearing out of the blue.
Understandably, there was a need to appeal to the local audience with comedy, but this single ingredient was a tad much in the mixture, thereby transforming the film’s thriller texture to a light-hearted comedy.
With the right fanfare or controversy, the film is likely to recoup its budget. Nevertheless, what Lann failed to achieve in storytelling, she made up in cinematography. Indeed, it was top-notch. In fact, it was one of the better parts of the film. At least, it makes her flawed script almost pardonable.