Up-and-comer British actor Idris Elba is a joy to watch and his cool charisma helps cover a lot of plot holes throughout director John Luessenhop's silly armored car heist drama “Takers.” Still, there isn’t enough charisma and cool clothes in Hollywood for Elba and his supporting cast of Michael Ealy, action man Paul Walker, “Star Wars” star Hayden Christensen and popular recording artists T.I. Harris and Chris Brown to salvage all the overwrought melodrama and action foolishness in “Takers.” For those moviegoers hopping for an edgy, low-budget urban heist film to finish the summer blockbuster season, “Takers” disappoints on too many levels.
Handsome bank robbers (Brown, Ealy, Hayden Christensen and Walker) and their slick leader Gordon (Elba) agree to partner with a former colleague just out of prison (Harris). The deal is too tempting to let go: $30 million from an armored car and their former team member has the armored car route maps. With five days to bring off the job, before splitting up and leaving Los Angeles for good, the team gets to work. Two Los Angeles police detectives (Matt Dillon and Jay Hernandez) and a group of Russian gangsters who also want to rob the armored car look to stop them first.
Elba, set for the next “Alex Cross” drama, replacing Morgan Freeman, makes a solid anchor for his surrounding cast but there’s only so much he can do. Michael Ealy and T.I. Harris also stand out as two thieves fighting over the same woman (Zoe Saldana).
Director and co-writer Lussenhop, as well his fellow writers Peter Allen, Gabriel Casseus and Avery Duff, trip up their hard-working actors with outrageous gun battles, childish dialogue and redundant action chases.
Los Angeles is home to many classic crime dramas from Michael Mann’s “Heat” to Curtis Hanson’s “L.A. Confidential” but all “Takers” shares in common with those great films is the city’s photogenic setting.
During the film’s climax, a violent confrontation on an airport tarmac outside a waiting plane, what should be tense turns out laughable. That’s something even the talented Elba cannot save.
Distributor: Screen Gems
Cast: Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Tip "T.I." Harris, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen, Zoe Saldana
Director: John Luessenhop
Writer: Peter Allen, Gabriel Casseus, John Luessenhop and Avery Duff
Cinematographer: Michael Barrett
Producers: Rainforest Films and Grand Hustle Films
Rating: PG-13
Running time: 107 minutes
Release Date: August 27, 2010
