Takers has a no-name director that hasn’t made a movie for a decade, and a list of has-been, never-been, and yet-to-be actors have conspired to produce this guilty pleasure of an action movie that is everything The A-Team, The Losers, and The Expendables failed to be: a rollicking good, B-movie actioner with A-list ambition to match. This is one of the genuine surprises of 2010.
The plot is extremely unoriginal, especially in the wake of The Town, which itself exists in the shadow of its genre forbears, but is diluted MTV fused bank heist mechanics of the highest order.
Successfully pulling off their once-a-year money maker are the titular takers, named as such because that’s exactly what they do, take millions from the bank and then live the life of riley. There’s the leader, Gordon (who else but Idris Elba?), the conscience, John (Paul Walker), the brains, Jake (Michael Ealy) and A.J. (former Mannequin Skywalker, Hayden Christensen), and the rookie Jessie (bad boy R ‘n’ B troublemaker Chris Brown).
As with all heist movies there is an obsessed FBI agent who is sacrificing his family commitments in order to catch the crooks, in this instance played by Matt Dillon, and the need for the gang to make “one last bust” before going straight.
So far, so formulaic, as the movie robs and steals from a pantheon of similar films. But here is where Takers has an advantage, because once you get through the hyperactive music video messiness of the opening 20 minutes, this settles into a cat-and-mouse thriller with some brilliantly drawn characters, and simply embraces what it is with the sole notion to entertain.
Care is taken that none of the crew are faceless goons, they are all given a reason to live, to exist as a dimension beyond flat, and therefore their actions carry some weight. We get to spend plenty of down time with the group and they’re a very likeable bunch, it’s not just the quips and catchphrases of Sly and co. or that lot in the black van.
Idris Elba has a way of consuming the screen and intimidating with his presence that hasn’t left him since his days as The Wire’s Baltimore kingpin, Stringer Bell, and his role here is probably the best way in which those traits have been utilised on the big screen. He is not just a composed front man but also deals with an alcoholic sister, played superbly by another brilliant Brit export, Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets and Lies).
There are also surprising results for the much maligned Christensen (hasn’t anyone seen how good he was in Shattered Glass?), having more fun with a broom handle than he ever did with a light sabre. Matt Dillon is requisitely gruff, but seems to be transforming into the kind of actor that his real life brother lampoons on TV’s Entourage. And finally, Chris Brown gets to hop, skip, and jump around the city in the film’s stand-out Parkour set-piece, although he does seem to knock over too many women for my liking.
This isn’t going to be on any critic’s end of year lists, or win any major honours, but it knows that, and thanks to some fun performances and solidly rewarding action sequences, this is guaranteed to exceed any expectations you may have for it.
[etRating value=“ 4”]
The plot is extremely unoriginal, especially in the wake of The Town, which itself exists in the shadow of its genre forbears, but is diluted MTV fused bank heist mechanics of the highest order.
Successfully pulling off their once-a-year money maker are the titular takers, named as such because that’s exactly what they do, take millions from the bank and then live the life of riley. There’s the leader, Gordon (who else but Idris Elba?), the conscience, John (Paul Walker), the brains, Jake (Michael Ealy) and A.J. (former Mannequin Skywalker, Hayden Christensen), and the rookie Jessie (bad boy R ‘n’ B troublemaker Chris Brown).
As with all heist movies there is an obsessed FBI agent who is sacrificing his family commitments in order to catch the crooks, in this instance played by Matt Dillon, and the need for the gang to make “one last bust” before going straight.
So far, so formulaic, as the movie robs and steals from a pantheon of similar films. But here is where Takers has an advantage, because once you get through the hyperactive music video messiness of the opening 20 minutes, this settles into a cat-and-mouse thriller with some brilliantly drawn characters, and simply embraces what it is with the sole notion to entertain.
Care is taken that none of the crew are faceless goons, they are all given a reason to live, to exist as a dimension beyond flat, and therefore their actions carry some weight. We get to spend plenty of down time with the group and they’re a very likeable bunch, it’s not just the quips and catchphrases of Sly and co. or that lot in the black van.
Idris Elba has a way of consuming the screen and intimidating with his presence that hasn’t left him since his days as The Wire’s Baltimore kingpin, Stringer Bell, and his role here is probably the best way in which those traits have been utilised on the big screen. He is not just a composed front man but also deals with an alcoholic sister, played superbly by another brilliant Brit export, Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets and Lies).
There are also surprising results for the much maligned Christensen (hasn’t anyone seen how good he was in Shattered Glass?), having more fun with a broom handle than he ever did with a light sabre. Matt Dillon is requisitely gruff, but seems to be transforming into the kind of actor that his real life brother lampoons on TV’s Entourage. And finally, Chris Brown gets to hop, skip, and jump around the city in the film’s stand-out Parkour set-piece, although he does seem to knock over too many women for my liking.
This isn’t going to be on any critic’s end of year lists, or win any major honours, but it knows that, and thanks to some fun performances and solidly rewarding action sequences, this is guaranteed to exceed any expectations you may have for it.
[etRating value=“ 4”]
