Heist films are a dime a dozen. When they are done well like “Heat” or “Inside Man”, they can be quite entertaining. “Takers” has the energy of the two previously mentioned films, but not the heart and soul.
Gordon (Idris Elba in a strong performance) leads a group of highly skilled bank robbers in Los Angeles. The group includes John (Paul Walker) the bagman, Jesse (Chris Brown) the runner, A.J. the builder (Hayden Christensen) and Jake the gunman and Jesse’s older brother. The thieves only do one job a year and are prepared for anything. Their latest bank job is all about precision and timing. Everything is meticulously planned and accounted for. There is one thing that bugged me though. How in the world did they know for sure that the news helicopter would do what it did? It is the tiny details like this that creeps in your mind throughout. Take a wild guess how they came up with the title of the movie.
Jack (Matt Dillon) and his partner Eddie (Jay Hernandez) are on the case to bring down these brazen thieves. Jack doesn’t have much time for his daughter. He actually stakes out the bad guys while she is the car. Eddie has a loving family, but has money difficulties. The clichés keep mounting as the movies goes along. It is almost fun to start counting them off when they appear.
There are hardly any strong female characters to speak of. Marianne Jean-Baptiste has a small role as Naomi, the drug addled sister of Gordon. She appears whenever the screenplay demands it. The police need a good lead, so here comes Naomi to provide it. This is a guys movie all the way and it doesn’t hide this fact.
The plot gets moving when Ghost (rapper T.I.) gets sprung from prison. He was a former member of the gang who got shot and caught during a robbery. Now he is back and wants the crew to do one last big score with him. Yes, check another thing off the cliché checklist. It will involve some armored trucks, random Russian bad guys and take place within a week. As we learned earlier, this is not their method of operation. But they take the job since we wouldn’t have a movie if they didn’t.
Director John Luessenhop is a follower of the MTV style of directing. There isn’t a quick cut that he doesn’t love. The action scenes just don’t hold as much power when they are sliced apart like broken glass. There is a chase scene that could have been a lot of fun if only he kept the camera more still. The stunt work is impressive though and many of the actors did do a lot of their own stunts. That does mean a lot in this world of CGI and blue screens. Later in the film, Luessenhop has the audacity to film a shootout in slow motion. This is merely him trying to show off and he doesn’t pull it off. It also is the most ridiculous scene in the whole film and that is saying a lot.
“Takers” is an overly frenetic and slick film. It is certainly not a boring movie, but one that is riddled by too many worn out clichés.
