Unas Production Company, Presents A Jonas Izuegbu Production Featuring, Sylvester Madu, Chigozie Atuanya, Vitalis Ndubuisi, Joyce Kalu, Lizzy Gold Onuwaje, Umeh Uzoh. Screenwriter, Chike Okonkwo; Director Of Photography, GoodnewsErico Isika; Graphic, Sharon Joseph. C; Director, Eme Goodnews Erico Isika; Editor, Gifson Emeka.( C2017)
What will come to mind when a viewer sees Sylvester Malu in a black and white shot? If you see him in a prelude to a movie, him buttoning the cuffs of his sleek white shirt, throwing his executive black coat over his shoulder, grabbing a briefcase in tow with two beautiful assistants, and says into his phone, “We’re on our way.” For me, I grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge and got comfortable, so I can savor the presence of him on the screen, sip by sip. In fact, five munites of screen time, with the help of an insider, he and his support pulled beaucoup million naira heist at an investment bank, without shedding one single blood. He’s cool like that; he’s good like that.
Bank Alert, I understand was inspired by a song with the same title, so I traced the song to find if there was any similarity between the lyrics and the movie. Nada. Not a derivative project.The story itself stands on its own. It’s the same water-down themes Nollywood dishes out for all it cares. Two young kids are not allowed to marry because of differences in social statures (Romeo and Juliet, turned on its head); a businessman cut-throats his friend in a business deal and his friend has a heart attack and dies, and his son gets on a war path (vengeance).
Sylvester Malu is hired to do the dirty job of doing away with the crooked businessman or Ambassador but he asks for a ransom. Ambassador of no country! On the other side of the lens, Teresa murders the intended mother-in-law for standing in the way of her love with her son, though she still kills the intended loved one for marrying Blossom.
Bank Alert, has only one Bank alert, when Sylvester Malu says on the phone, “We’re on our way.” And that couldn’t be called a signal. Don’t get me wrong. The word, ‘alert,’ ‘alarm,’, whether used as an adjective (keen), noun (caution) or verb (to prepare for action), always points to an impending circumstance, indicates a problem, impending trouble or forewarning. As according to the title of this movie I thought I was going to view an intense situation with security scurrying all over the grounds of the bank, where the heist still occurs, amid a hail of bullets as I witnessed in Bank Business when Jazzman gets away in a coffin. Thud. It never happened here. All we see is a Chief, and his wife disrobed naked when the culprits changed their get-away car with theirs, leaving them naked, calling for help, in the middle of nowhere
Bank Alert runs way away from its premise. Instead, it delved seventy-five percent deep into kidnapping an ambassador for twenty million nairas. Nor the representative, nor her daughter, nor the police alerted the bank of a scam or heist. Dear Screenwriter, where’s the alert?!
In my reviewing efforts, I follow producers, directors, writers and actors. I’ve been following Sylvester Madu in most of his films. This movie did not do him justice. The reason I’m coughing out this is that in standard screenwriting, the lead, Sylvester Malu, shouldn’t be out of sight for three parts, letting a flashback in, and letting the flashback takes a life of its own.
The use of name-brand actors, like Sylvester Malu, draws people to the marketplace to buy movies. If you feature him in a film, you promise the viewers that they’ll get the bang for their money. I request at least a dollar back, for denying me such entertainment.
I believe, producers wanted Bank Alert looks like Mission Impossible hence they employed the uptempo background sound like in Mission Impossible. Let us don’t forget that in Mission Impossible, music is completely stopped, or lowered when meaningful dialogue is taking place in the film. But the music in Bank Alert unnessecerily obstructs dialogue. An entertaining flick to watch.