Ladrões

Every once in a while, I like a nice, mind-numbing adventure film that is pure entertainment. Takers is a good example.

The film stars Matt Dillon, Jay Hernandez, Idris Elba, Paul Walker, T.I., Hayden Christensen, Michael Ealy, Steve Harris, Johnathon Schaech, Zoe Saldana, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

A professional group of robbers is approached by a member (T.I.) who was just released from prison. He has an incredible plan to take down an armored truck full of millions. The group decides to go for it.

Dillon and Hernandez are the two cops who are working to take them down after a recent bank robbery. A slip-up by the drug-addicted sister of one of the crooks puts the cops hot on his trail.

The last half hour of this movie is one of the longest and best chases on foot I've ever seen, followed by a massive shootout - it's nonstop action all the way.

As someone mentioned, not every film is Shawshank Redemption or Citizen Kane. There is room for this type of adventure flick - good thing, because there are plenty of them.

I found it highly entertaining, the story helped by a strong cast.

The plot for this film does not need to be explained. It's basically a pastiche of The Italian Job, True Romance and melodramatic clichés.

The third element in the blender, mentioned above, along with a script short on genuine character development (You'll sometimes forget that Hayden Christensen and Zoe Saldana are in it) are distracting for a film which develops a serious tone, but there are positives, depending on your genre preferences.

The film moves along briskly, even as we deal with a cringe-worthy first half, and when the actual robbery gets going, the fun starts. Though the cinematography is modeled too much off of the Bourne-style shaky cam, the set pieces are still very well pulled off.

The extended car chases and shootouts contain a level of energy and suspense that really makes them standout, comparable to similar scenes in the above mentioned films, along with an on-foot chase clearly modeling itself off of the Madagascar chase in Casino Royale. Every car whizzing by, bone crunch or gunshot affects the audience due to mostly- proper use of slow motion, and great editing, both sound and film wise.

The melodrama may make some engaged viewers start laughing due to how it's put on screen, but as the stakes get higher, gels with the storyline.

The main cast, considering the material they are given, do the best they can, and their charisma is enough for us to care about them when the stakes get REALLY high, particularly in the case of Matt Dillon and Idris Elba.

It's highly unoriginal and contains several other elements worthy of nitpicking, but after evaluating how I had spent the past 107 minutes of my life, I think it got the job done.

B-

As the tittle says, if you want a really good thieves-crew movie go for "The Town" (Ben Affleck's new adventure), or, if you missed it, "Heat" (1995). If you missed this one, wait no longer and get it NOW, its a masterpiece.

Takers is entertaining, action packed, bang bang and all those flashy things. You will be as satisfied as in a meal without dessert, you are full but you still lack something sweet.

The story in "Takers" is solid, with a few shortcuts along the way, but nothing damaging to the overall value of the movie. Acting is also very decent, nothing fancy, also a few bad apples, but mainly in the "second line" of actors.

Also, for the love story fans this has very little value, and the the little it has does not turn out too good.

Overall, my humble opinion, give this movie a chance and you will be satisfied.

Takers is a heist film that's pretty much the same as other heist films, where there's plenty of room for loud action, camaraderie, the elaborate planning stage, and how Murphy's Law enters to screw everything up. This film has it all which makes it pretty average. but there were moments which stood out and made it noteworthy, and hey, an ensemble cast (even if for a few scenes only) with the likes of Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, Matt Dillon, Jay Hernandez, Idirs Elba, Zoe Saldana and the notorious Chris Brown doesn't hurt either.

The thieving bunch here comprises of a close knit group of brothers real and sworn who take a year to plan their large heists, in part to have some time off to allow for their latest escapade to cool off and fade off from the police's radar, to spend their ill gotten dough and of course, to allow for the meticulous planning of their next hit. They follow a strict regime of communication and the reliance of unique skills they bring to the table, and we see how that all come together in concert with their money making objectives. They don't kill unless necessary, and they don't see themselves as desperate robbers. They're above that - they take.

Director John Luessenhop slaps together scenes that tried to go beyond just a simple heist film, and dwells at length to the background of these characters, where we have one who's about to get married, and another grappling with his sister's drug rehabilitation. Even the token cops in the film doesn't get spared, with the story squeezing some time out to showcase how dogged Matt Dillon's Jack Welles is to his job at the expense of previous quality time with his daughter. In fact I don't see how the cops' stories are that compelling to be included in Takers other than to highlight that the world isn't made out to be black and white, but always with that constant opportunity for grey. Given the way the cops' story and subplot got resolved, it could have been totally eliminated and yet there'll still be plenty left in the tank for the film to entertain, since they don't add much to the plot.

The film really picked up past the halfway mark where their new heist proper gets put into action, courtesy of a plan from one of the team's past buddies Ghost (T.I.) whose multi- million dollar proposition involving an armoured truck and pulling off the equivalent of The Italian Job in the tunnels of Los Angeles is too much to handle, that the team chucks their one year per job mantra out the window for that once in a lifetime opportunity. Which spells trouble of course, beginning with a nail-biting build up right down to the ending. Despite being riddled with clichés and plot conveniences at times, or even gaping loopholes that stick out like a sore thumb, such as creating such a prolonged ruckus in a hotel room/floor that the police couldn't arrive on time until the action was over.

Don't get me wrong, the extended shootout was one of my favourite scenes in the film given director Luessenhop's flair in crafting it out and injecting something fresh in the presentation. For the most parts the story (with a total of 4 writers involved) made it out for the team to seem to be on the losing end, and having to execute their exit plans fast, only for some other incident to drop in unexpectedly and derail those plans, testing their resolve and their honour amongst thieves. There's the classic Mexican stand-off moment too ala John Woo and Johnnie To involving both sides of the fence that got resolved pretty quickly, unfortunately, devoid of meaningful suspense.

Still, Takers still had its essential ingredient that fuels average B-grade Hollywood action films, so if you're ready for a compromise of a plot that will stretch what's believable and that of the actors constantly swaggering around, this is for that action junkie in you.

Heists, robberies, thieves all seems very attractive words when it comes to movie business. And some names like Italian Job, Oceans 11 have proved to be the brim of excitement and thrill and made movie history bit more vivid and interesting. However not always this is true. Even though some movies come out with stunning trailers and impressive cast they fail to pull out the obvious, the story and the drama. And I think 'Takers' fail in the same spot.

'Takers' is a story about a gang of thieves who live luxurious life from the money they manage to rob. Well informed, organized and trained in their livelihood of taking what belongs to others, they seem to know what they are doing. But one day their history starts to bite them in their back and meanwhile a restless cop starts to sniff his way up to their doorstep. In between thundering loud bullet exchanges and lightning fast pursuits 'Takers' have its moments of thrill and suspense. And even the cast is not bad. Eye candy for the woman viewers for sure with Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen in front seats of the whole game the movie, but has poor female characters presentation. The hot Zoe Saldana represents a bit of woman on the movie but her face time is quite unnoticeable.

Even though the action, cinematography, cast is quite good there are certain key areas where 'Takers' fail to deliver. One big failure is the plot. There is no magic in it. Looks Cliché and quite predictable if you are a fan of heist movies all along. And the character development is very poor. You hardly get to know any character so you don't actually feel anything towards them when the story throws emotional moments at you. So the impressive cast is not actually worth it after all.

'Takers' is a thrill ride with a big emptiness surrounding it. I won't consider watching it again unless it's free on HBO and its a lazy jobless day.