The Take

An early sign that actor Tom Hardy was going to be an acting force to be reckoned with. Hardy plays an ex-con named Freddy who just gets out of prison and initially takes his orders from the crime boss Ozzy (Brian Cox) who is still serving his prison sentence behind bars. Freddy meets up with his childhood best friend Jimmy (Shaun Evans) who is just starting to climb the proverbial crime ladder himself when the rogue Freddy chooses his own violent path to the top of the crime world. Adding controversy is Freddy's open affection for Jimmy's hot looking wife Maggie (Charlotte Riley) and his continued power tripping on anyone who even thinks of getting in Freddy's way.

It must be something about Freddy's resolute stare that makes everyone around him uncomfortable including his own wife Jackie (Kierston Wareing) and their young ten (10) year old son. I don't suggest this four (4) part TV mini-series is for everyone's taste, as it is rather violent and morbid, but it has more than its share of suspenseful moments about life in the midst of a criminal empire.

Tom Hardy excels in his role and he has a strong supporting cast in this four (4) part TV mini-series which left enough on the table to introduce a sequel if the producers could create another decent script.

I watched the four episodes of this mini-series in one go. That's how good it is. Once you're in the story you want to know what's coming. All actors did a great job I thought, but the best actor had to be Tom Hardy playing Freddie Jackson. Freddie Jackson, just released from prison, immediately picks up his criminal career, only thinking about his interests. He quickly becomes a very selfish and arrogant character that you almost hate immediately. And Tom Hardy plays this role perfectly. A brilliant performance if you ask me. The story itself is a gangster story with a lot of drama going on. You get sucked into the story and that's a good thing. For a short television series you can't get much better then The Take.

This show is more than OK, but it's impossible to take your eyes off Tom Hardy. He becomes Freddie so much that he becomes unattractive. That seems an impossibility in itself, but it's not the first time Tom Hardy has made me disgusted in his character. I had to constantly remind myself I was watching Tom Hardy, the actor, during Bronson and Warrior. He completely transforms. I would hate to act alongside the guy. He truly is a one-in-a-million that comes along once in a lifetime. My parents had Brando.

Hollywood is being flooded by a tsunami of English talent, and Tom Hardy is surfing it naked.

It's easily the best mini-series that I have ever seen.

Perhaps not the right venue, but could you please tell me the name of the song to which, the bride & groom were dancing to? Sound like, "I'm crazy; crazy about our love…" That is just one example about the background music that I loved. The dialogue was crisp and did not lag. The plot was fantastic. Always kept me on the edge of my seat.

Tom Hardy was desirable and irresistible. He played a good, bad guy. I look forward to seeing him in more movies. He takes full control of the camera, when he plays the functional sociopath. It's a mini-series that you want to see over and over again. It can be paralleled to a book. It's not what the author says; it's how he says it. Well, it's not what Tom Hardy plays, It's how he plays it.

Director David Drury pairs with English actor Tom Hardy to create as brilliant a hard case criminal as you will ever see on film. You've seen Hardy in major pictures probably going back to Band of Brothers, but you would never have imagined his overwhelming power as a major star, an actor so exceptional and so explosive he's more menacing than Al Pacino has ever been let alone any movie villain of the sort we see all the time being defeated by superheros. Hardy, as an ex-con drug kingpin, brutal, terrifying, a rapist, walking around projecting so much menace people practically poop in their pants.

The supporting cast is a collection of English character actors as always superb, and the great Brian Cox guest stars as the incarcerated criminal mastermind.

Drury's camera-work is integral to the constant tension; you'll even be blown away by the opening credits. He's clearly an actor's director first, but this miniseries is a masterpiece overall. Don't miss it.