Movie Review: Big Nunu’s Little Heist
One-liner: While this heist caper is fresh, fun, quirky and stylish at times, it’s ultimately an uninvolving and lightweight distraction.
Big Nunu’s Little Heist is a South African action crime comedy from writer-director Andy ‘Admiral’ Kasrils. The fun caper journeys with an ex-soldier turned deliveryman who’s coerced into joining a kingpin’s daring heist as a weapons expert. A stylish, upbeat and quirky misadventure, Big Nunu’s Little Heist starts with promise as it sets the scene with distinct local flavour. Unfortunately, while there are glimmers of inspiration, the comedy is underserved and the characters are underdeveloped as the movie attempts to get by on style and quirk.
A modest production, this heist movie does everything it can to upscale its look and feel. The cinematography, sound, wardrobe and production design is thoughtful and all contribute to the mood and visual aesthetic of this flick in a bid to be cool. These elements go a long way to immersing Big Nunu’s Little Heist in an atmospheric, lively and colourful world with a familiar heist movie formula to fall back on. As much creativity and care has been invested in this film, the end product is underwhelming and lacklustre.
Led by Jefferson Tshabalala as Delivery Man and Tony Miyambo as Nunu, the supporting cast includes: Amahle Khumalo, Thulani McKing, Daniel Hadebe, Thulane Shange and Khanyisa Bunu with a cameo from Kagiso Lediga. It’s wonderful to see a genre film keeping the casting as local as Big Nunu’s Little Heist does. Much like iNumber Number: Jozi Gold, the movie doesn’t feel the need to import name stars, relying on our own pool of talent. While the performances have energy and verve, they’re limited by the screenplay’s action, fleeting pacing and style-over-substance focus.
Big Nunu’s Little Heist looks the part and isn’t void of passion but seems content to coast at a superficial level. The characters have the necessary quirk to amuse but amount to cartoons in their one note treatment. There’s a long-running joke to Delivery Man getting roped into a crime almost by accident but the character’s non-descript name speaks to the production as a whole. Never getting to the point of being acquainted on a first name basis, Delivery Man operates at an arm’s length not siphoning much empathy in the process. This misstep undermines the entire film, struggling to identify with his haphazard predicament and not moved by his seemingly selfish motivations. While there are many examples of films where characters remain fairly anonymous, there’s not enough mystery, a lack of originality and too much distance to identify with Delivery Man.
“Put one foot wrong and you’ll never toe the line again.”
As eccentric as Nunu is in his role as an unconventional kingpin, the character is essentially a one trick pony whose quirk is mostly derived from his old world gangster styling and high-pitched voice. As entertaining as Miyambo is in this spoofy role, channeling stand up comedian appeal and hilarity in the moment, it’s fairly short-lived as the turn normalises to the point of being an African reworking of Poirot. While this scene-stealing and outlandish character could actually work well as the kingpin in his own series, he becomes a counterpoint in Big Nunu’s Little Heist. While his offbeat charm is welcome in the vacuum, enhanced by the quirk of his cohorts, it seems off-balance and a substitute for the Delivery Man’s uninspired quest.
Big Nunu’s Little Heist has an over-the-top sense of humour and some playful spins on heist genre conventions. Trading in this space between the realm of exciting action, quirky comedy and political intrigue, none of these factors are quite good or entertaining enough to survive independently. The lack of character depth, subpar comedy, cartoonish treatment, underappreciated stakes and tried-and-tested feel of the heist just aren’t enough to remain compelling beyond the novelty of its local casting, setting and vibrant style. As fun as Big Nunu’s Little Heist is in its best moments, these aren’t enough to sustain the movie beyond the point of curiousity – making it lightweight and fairly frivolous.
The bottom line: Superficial
