We all love the gritty crime thriller, there is just something about guns going off that makes everyone's heart pound rapidly in our chests. A few years ago it was Heat that garnered a lot of attention, mainly because it stared two of Hollywood's A-list actors together on screen for the very first time. * Please don't count Godfather 2, they were never on screen together. Today we can count on this adrenaline factor times six with "Takers" a heist film with character. Takers has it all, not only do we get to watch the heist as it unfolds, we also get the expected double crosses, gun fire and the good guys vs. the bad guys. In Takers though the girls also get the eye candy. This movie is tailor made for everyone.
For all intents and purposes the men of Takers are all bad guys. Shamefully we will all root for them to get away. Of course we all know that option isn't feasible with the life style these men choose to live. The protagonists, a group of self - entitled 'Takers' are A.J. (Hayden Christensen), Gordon (Idris Elba), brothers Jake (Michael Ealy) and Jesse (Chris Brown) and John (Paul Walker). After another successful robbery the boys go to the club owned by Jake to cool down. They seem to be members of all the swankiest clubs in L.A. and when John gets home he runs into an ex member of their little group, nicknamed "Ghost" (Tip 'T.I'. Harris). Ghost has recently been released from prison and has plans to settle some old scores and get rich in the mean time.
Okay now that the premise has been set up, Ghost convinces the guys to join him on a million dollar armored car heist. Unfortunately for these takers, common sense doesn't win out. Greed is the catalyst that fuels so many movies of this type. The guys agree to undertake the heist. All the while being pursued by two dogged police detectives. One is a loose cannon who doesn't play by anyone's rules but his own, the other is a family man who has a sick child. Jack Welles (Matt Dillon) and Eddie Hatcher (Jay Hernand), are two men who will get closer and closer to the Takers, while one of the two is pursued by another officer. Lt. Carver (Steve Harris) is an internal affairs officer investigating one of the detectives.
Thrown into the mix is Rachel Jansen (Zoe Saldana), who happened to be dating Ghost before he went to prison in 04 but now seems to be happily engaged to Jake. Another semi strong female performance is that of Naomi (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). Naomi is the drug addicted relative of Gordon's who happens to show up at all the wrong times and causes more headaches then seems plausible. I know cliche ridden scripts usually mean garbage on the screen, and though this movie is riddled with more holes then I can count the script works, the camaraderie between the stars feels real. And at the end of the day that's all we really want.
I give Takers a 3. This is based solely on the fact that the film didn't fall back on its cliche script. That's a statement for how well the actors did coming across as genuine. The scene where one of them falls is heartfelt. In this scene one can feel the emotion and the sense of lose of a friend. Action packed movies usually have the final confrontation between the good guys and the bad guys but takers offers us not one but two confrontations. These spell the doom for many of these men and this Cynic is glad that director John Luessenhop didn't fall for the sappy cheesy ending where the men walk off into the sunset. Men of this type seldom do.
Takers is rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Action, a Sexual Situation, Partial Nudity and Some Language.
Running time is 1 hr. 47 mins.
Distributed by Sony Pictures
For all intents and purposes the men of Takers are all bad guys. Shamefully we will all root for them to get away. Of course we all know that option isn't feasible with the life style these men choose to live. The protagonists, a group of self - entitled 'Takers' are A.J. (Hayden Christensen), Gordon (Idris Elba), brothers Jake (Michael Ealy) and Jesse (Chris Brown) and John (Paul Walker). After another successful robbery the boys go to the club owned by Jake to cool down. They seem to be members of all the swankiest clubs in L.A. and when John gets home he runs into an ex member of their little group, nicknamed "Ghost" (Tip 'T.I'. Harris). Ghost has recently been released from prison and has plans to settle some old scores and get rich in the mean time.
Okay now that the premise has been set up, Ghost convinces the guys to join him on a million dollar armored car heist. Unfortunately for these takers, common sense doesn't win out. Greed is the catalyst that fuels so many movies of this type. The guys agree to undertake the heist. All the while being pursued by two dogged police detectives. One is a loose cannon who doesn't play by anyone's rules but his own, the other is a family man who has a sick child. Jack Welles (Matt Dillon) and Eddie Hatcher (Jay Hernand), are two men who will get closer and closer to the Takers, while one of the two is pursued by another officer. Lt. Carver (Steve Harris) is an internal affairs officer investigating one of the detectives.
Thrown into the mix is Rachel Jansen (Zoe Saldana), who happened to be dating Ghost before he went to prison in 04 but now seems to be happily engaged to Jake. Another semi strong female performance is that of Naomi (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). Naomi is the drug addicted relative of Gordon's who happens to show up at all the wrong times and causes more headaches then seems plausible. I know cliche ridden scripts usually mean garbage on the screen, and though this movie is riddled with more holes then I can count the script works, the camaraderie between the stars feels real. And at the end of the day that's all we really want.
I give Takers a 3. This is based solely on the fact that the film didn't fall back on its cliche script. That's a statement for how well the actors did coming across as genuine. The scene where one of them falls is heartfelt. In this scene one can feel the emotion and the sense of lose of a friend. Action packed movies usually have the final confrontation between the good guys and the bad guys but takers offers us not one but two confrontations. These spell the doom for many of these men and this Cynic is glad that director John Luessenhop didn't fall for the sappy cheesy ending where the men walk off into the sunset. Men of this type seldom do.
Takers is rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Action, a Sexual Situation, Partial Nudity and Some Language.
Running time is 1 hr. 47 mins.
Distributed by Sony Pictures
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