Movie Reviews

Takers

TAKERS is highly entertaining but it is in no way original and because of this it is very predictable. The action scenes are what makes the movie worth watching, especially the one with CHRIS BROWN. This film is like a roller coaster one second you are thinking it is one of the best movies this year the next it is one of the worst, so it ends up just being a mediocre film. The film is easy to follow which gives it a nice easy flow. It is organized, but the fact that there are so many characters and so little character development it doesn’t give the audience time to connect with them although there is sympathy towards the gang of high class criminals. 

The film shows us the workings of a gang of high class criminals that play by their own rules, such as doing one job a year and not killing anyone; specifically cops. They mean no harm, just gain which makes them likable. The gang love each other like brothers and are successful at what they do by working out every single intricate detail of their jobs in a timely manner. Their leader Gordon Betts or “G” (IDRIS ELBA) is the one to give each of them tasks and they take his advice seriously, but unfortunately he has a downfall his sister Naomi (MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE) a drug addict trying to go clean. His right arm is John Rahway (PAUL WALKER) he executes the important parts of the dirty work. The brains of the operation is A.J. (HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN) he works out the gritty details with great results. Jake Attica (MICHAEL EALY) is the sweetheart of the group, he is the heart of the gang and gives them a human touch; his biggest worry is his brother Jesse (CHRIS BROWN) their father is in jail and he feels terrible for bringing his little brother into the business and therefore wants to keep him out of harm’s way. The bad influence and outsider of the group is Ghost (T.I.), on their last job he’s the only one that got caught and as soon as he’s out of jail he’s ready to execute a new plan. The gang doesn’t trust him but decide to break their one year rule to go along with his risky plan to rob an armored car carrying over $12 million; they only have 5 days to plan the heist. 

Jack Welles (MATT DILLON) a cop for the LAPD becomes obsessed with catching the criminals after they pull off a $2 million heist leaving very little traces. He brings his troubled partner Eddie Hatcher (JAY HERNANDEZ) along and although Eddie is incredulous, as a best friend he’s trying to help Jack cope with what seems abandonment from his wife because he is so absorbed by his job; this is never clear in the movie. 

The acting leaves very little to be desired, it was hard to believe Dillion and Hernandez as cops; Dillon does look like he’s going through a major life crisis throughout the movie but he may look like that in real life. One doubts Elba’s British accent when in fact he is a real Brit. Walker plays the same white boy ghetto wanna be as he does in most of his roles. T.I. plays T.I. there are no skills there. I do have to give Brown props for his awesome Parkour performance, that was one of the best scenes of the movie. Finally, our very popular dominican actress Zoe Saldaña was in the film for very short periods and she was just eye candy for the guys; us girls have plenty of eye candy all throughout the movie. 

The movie picks up right in the middle when you start getting your hopes up but it is killed with a couple of montages that are super corny especially because of the music that accompanies them. The movie reaches its goal, to entertain and although at some points it is overkill it still does the jobs. If you go to watch it knowing that the well developed action scenes are the only things to take from it, then go right ahead otherwise wait to watch it comfortably from your couch.