Genres

Visitors Review

Jen Yamato 2012-05-24 07:35:27

A slick thriller comprised of equal parts pretty actors, urban crime drama clichés, and cheesy lines... The Italian Heat Job for Dummies.

Betsy Sharkey 2012-05-23 16:47:21

Even with all of the action, and with a few plot twists that are kinda cool, there's really not enough to Takers to make it worth your time.

JoeC345 2012-05-17 07:03:14

What did You Expect?

You don't go into a movie like this expecting it to be "ApocalypseNow". You walk in expecting to sit back and be entertained. Now I didthe latter of the two and honestly I wasn't disappointed, it was farfetched, it had a good amount of dumb action, and mediocre acting. Nowthis all might sound bad but really it's not I enjoyed this movie forall it's faults.Any description of the plot would be meaningless since it's pretty muchgiven away in the preview, which happens a lot nowadays, but despitethe formula plot line there was actually some descent characters towatch and almost care about.I'm really happy I took a chance on this movie, I love great movies andeven though this is definitely not one of them it entertained me andfor a while I was just enjoying the movie. Which isn't really why we goto the movies anyway?

capone666 2012-05-16 09:36:25

The Vidiot Reviews...

TakersThe best way for criminals to avoid the curse of the "one last job" isto quit on their second last job.Unfortunately, the retiring robbers in this thriller went ahead withtheir last heist. What's more they allowed their recently paroledcomrade to organize it.After he is released from prison, Ghost (T.I.) wastes no time incontacting his former crew (Idris Elba, Paul Walker, HaydenChristensen, Michael Ealy and Chris Brown) about putting somethingtogether.Although they are skeptical, his former cohorts ultimately decide tojoin Ghost in holding up an armoured truck.Meanwhile, a persistent police officer (Matt Dillon) gets wind of theirplans and tries to abate them.While the story lacks character development and originality, Takersdoes boast some decent shootouts.As for the best way to rob an armoured truck driver: stand outside thebank in a giant sack with a $ on it. (Yellow Light)

2012-05-07 15:23:22

High points . . . Action Scenes . . . Low Points . . . Ridiculous Dialogue and Situations

Idris Elba is an exceptional actor, but in 'Takers' his talent was wasted. The film had well-choreographed action scenes, particularly Chris Brown's, but there were some moments that were supposed to be serious and poignant that my husband and I burst our laughing at the ludicrous dialogue. And seriously, who told T.I. he could act? Because a guy has a criminal records does not mean that he can portray a credible criminal on film. His acting was too wooden, and the writers asked the viewer to suspend belief too often.A mediocre film. Fortunately, I watched it on Demand for free with my cable company.

judy 2012-05-07 00:56:16

Trying to be Heat, but misses badly

Takers is trying to be Heat. That is it has a likable villain in IdrisElba and a driven cop in Matt Dillon. But unlike Al Pacino's characterone can't get behind suspect beating Dillon and root for him like youshould. Instead you root for the bad guys, especially Elba and MichaelEaly (who I would love to see in more movies). Besides them and maybePaul Walker the heist group is generic. As far as the writing isconcerned you can see what's going to happen way before it does exceptfor one surprise involving Dillon and his partner. I love to see lotsof Black people working in Hollywood but this could have been a betterfilm if they had decreased the number of characters and increased thelevel of the storytelling. 6/10

Marmalade Jakarta 2012-05-06 11:02:09

A movie that seems like a montage of better movies with a reasonable entertainment quotient

OK, just got to get this off my chest. The word is 'decent', people.There is no 's' in the word. The only reason you would be using theword descent is to describe this movie's downward slide into completeunoriginality.Let me list the ways in which this film sucks.The opening scene has a cop recovering from a night on the booze afterhis wife has left him, complete with dazzling sun effect to drive hometo us that said cop may be feeling hungover.He throws his plastic bottle out the window, thus losing any respectfrom me for a person whose condition I have experienced too many timesand would normally have sympathised with.We then cut to a bank heist that involves one of the characters makinga physical gesture that is his idiosyncratic calling card into a CCTVcamera. Who would guess that would prove significant? We have a hammilyestablished buddy boy partner's scene when it is established that thepardners are friends and (weep) one even has a sick son.Sorry, just let me wipe away my tears. The hungover cop is beinginvestigated by internal affairs for rough-housing a suspect. But atleast we know he is an anti-hero, as if we were in the dark.The characters look like a video-catalogue for bespoke clothing butluckily for us they come with off-the-peg personalities. Okay, they aresophisticated because they appeal to every level of an Esquire editor'smetrosexuality.We see each character set up with someone they could lose if it allgoes wrong. Guess what, suspense fans? The recently returned jailbirdis peeved at his lady being stolen. Really? I would have helped thempick out wedding stationery.The jailbird is played by a rapper? A refreshing and completelyout-of-the-box casting decision.We have a ten-minute parkour chase. If it was the early 90's all thecharacters would have grabbed skateboards. The parkouring charactersustains injuries capable of killing a family of armouredwater-buffalo.The jailbird, still smarting over being left for dead in an "oh-four"heist, double-crosses the gang by bringing in a bunch of comic-bookRussians, who I would have much preferred if they were drinking a latteand discussing trickle-down economics, but alas, they were drinkingvodka, showing off Russian mafia tattoos and queueing in line for apotato.After a nerve-nibbling scene in which the main heist appears to goawry, the thieves blow away lots of bank security protecting thearmoured vehicles (fine and dandy) and when Parkour Pete takes out apoliceman (earth-shatteringly bad), the thieves are disgusted thattheir code of, ahem, honour has been broken.A gun-fight ensues between the Boris Gang and the Uncle Sam posse inwhich the director opts to go for classical music, punctuated bychest-rattling bass booms. I liked it. The one thing that people arereally ripping apart, apart from the above is this scene. Bullets don'tsound like the way we are conditioned to believe by TV and movies. Ifpeople are having a full-on gunfight in a hotel room, we would bedeafened and I think this is what the director tried to achieve - thesense of slowed-down, adrenaline-fuelled reflex observation. The bassbooms gave me the sensory impression of feeling the force of thebullets.A Mexican stand-off beloved of QT resulted in the 2 good guys beingluckily hit with non-lethal shots while ghetto kid gets hiscome-uppance.The movie ends with the tenacious, plucky, embittered, troubled,conflicted, etc., law-enforcer calling for help and the two good badguys getting away with a big bag of loot. Sounds like the Americaneconomy bail-out to me, but analogies are not really the strength ofthis movie.I have not felt so disappointed with the end of a movie since "NoCountry for Old Men". And neither movie ever truly ended. But that isclever, right? No, bloody irritating.

homecomingguardking 2012-05-05 12:52:35

An Entertaining Show that Should Be Watched for the Action

In a way, this could be an introductory film for me. Why? Well, it'sthe first time I've seen Paul Walker not racing out Vin Diesel orTyrese Gibson, the first time I've seen Hayden Christensen not beingsome dude holding a light-saber while going on their merry little wayto becoming the being that quotes "Luke. I am your father.", and it'sthe first time I've even seen the majority of the others even appear onthe big screen. Another thing that can be noted is that it suffered thesame fate as "The Fighter" did when it got rejected for TRON in themovie theaters (Takers ultimately got rejected for The Social Network,by the way). So you figure that due to its interesting resume, this isa movie that I would enjoy. And actually, you are correct if thatreally was what you thought. While I'm not a fan of Chris Brown, I didlike watching the action in this crime drama. It kept me entertainedand was worth a watch. Looks like TRON: Legacy wasn't the only movielaughing at The Fighter in the end. (June 22nd, 2011) Grade: B- (7.4/10Rating)

2012-05-02 08:09:18

An Entertaining "Cops & Robbers" Movie

TAKERS is a very entertaining "cops-and-robbers" movie, enhanced with several well-executed action sequences that depend on stunts, rather than CGI.Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Michael Ealy, Hayden Christenson and Chris Brown make up a gang of Los Angeles bank robbers who have been able to pull off some remarkable, big money heists without being caught. Their luck takes a downward turn when a former associate (Tip "T.I." Harris) approaches them with a fantastic deal involving enough cash that the gang will be able to retire. Now, aside from the cops (headed by Matt Dillon and Jay Hernandez) close on their trail, the gang also has to deal with the Russian Mob and a major double-cross by one of their own.Directed by John Luessenhop, the film is cut from the same cloth as Michael Mann's HEAT (1995) in that it takes the audience into the personal lives of the criminals, humanizing them to the point where we almost wish that they will get away with their crimes.The screenplay by Peter Allen, Gabriel Casseus, Avery Duff and Luessenhop contains several surprising plot twists, but also more than one lapse in logic. For example, in an opening sequence, the gangs robs a Federal bank, which had me wondering throughout the movie, why the LAPD was taking the lead in the investigation, rather than the FBI, which never even makes an appearance in the picture.However, the exciting action scenes, including the spectacular heist on the streets of downtown Los Angeles and a later shootout at Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel, certainly take you mind off the minor failings of this likable "popcorn" movie that is what it is.On the other hand, I sort of felt sorry for the hotel maid at the Roosevelt who was going to have to clean the rooms at the Roosevelt after the gang had finished with them. :-)The DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment contains audio commentary by the producers and director, plus a music video.© Michael B. Druxman

2012-05-01 21:18:57

Takers

This review is from: Takers (DVD) It was a pleasure to watch this video. It was full of action and surprises that you did not see coming. I will definitely keep this in my personal library to watch again and again.

Riva Stewart 2012-04-28 12:34:20

Predictable but full of eye candy

This crime/action movie follows the exploits of a team of successfulbank robbers led by Idris Elba Gordon. They are very well organized andmethodical which keep them out of jail. Only days after a successfulbank robbery the team is approached by a former member Ghost (T.I.)with the biggest score they've had yet. Fresh out of jail Ghost givesthe team the layout and plan to pull the scheme off. The only issue isthat it must happen in a few days. The team has a policy of only oneheist a year. Will breaking this policy also break their success rate?There was nothing truly unique about this story line. You can prettymuch figure out Ghost's motives early on. The acting by Chris Brown andT.I. was stiff. It was almost distracting to hear them deliver theirlines. Who wrote this script? Poor Chris had to deliver a line when hewas speaking to his brother and said, "…but you don't seem jazzed."Jazzed, really? What young black guy talks like that? Ultimately, thebest thing about this movie was it featured so many goodlooking men. I mean this movie had a guy for just about every type. Therough neck T.I., the intellectual Michael with those gorgeous eyes, thesexy British Idris in his underwear, yep, there was def. eye candy forall.In the end, the movie was o.k. but I wish I hadn't paid full price.www.rivareviews.com

witster18 2012-04-27 23:04:07

good action, nice style/cinematography, choppy character development and storytelling

"Takers" is a sleek-looking action/heist flick with a decent cast. Theopening heist let me know that this film wasn't going to rank high onbelievability. 'The Town' wasn't believable either, but there were someserious flaws with the plot and character development here.It didn't take long for a serious plot hole. Spoiler coming! So duringthe opening heist our band of well-dressed, seasoned criminals secretlyheads to the top of the building instead of out of it... and here'swhere things got really interesting - or should I say stupid.A news helicopter is in the area because they heard that there was arobbery call on the radio.. one of the robbers is already on top of thebuilding(dressed as a security guard) and motions to the helicopter toland. The pilot of the helicopter says 'we don't have a permit to landhere', but does anyway. SO..... we are led to believe that this smartgroup of criminals were depending on luck that the helicopter would bethere at that time AND LAND despite not having a permit(IE Illegally)to do so... it seemed EXTREMELY unrealistic. Their plan hinged on adecision(an unlikely one) made by someone outside of the group. Oopsy.As for the rest of the film. The pacing is good, and the acting is alsopassable, so all isn't rotten in Denmark so to speak. The action isfurious and the 107 minutes flies by rather swiftly. Matt Dillon andPaul Walker are the strongest actors here, but are diluted by thenumerous characters and lack of meaningful dialogue."Takers" is a good looking film. There is a grayish/blue tone to justabout everything that kinda screams Michael Mann. This is no 'Heat'though, and "Takers" ends more with a thud than a bang...You'll MIGHT like this if you liked: The Town, Limitless, Point Break,or Dead Presidents.54/100

lekgolah 2012-04-25 17:55:16

Terrible. Combine Heat, Fast & Furious and a bit of Point Break then mess it up = Takers

Everything about this film is terrible. It is a waste of time and is anexample of what happens when you combine poor directing with an equallypoor script. It is one of those films that once it has ended, you willsoon realise what a waste of time it is. One important feature to include with a film about robbers is themotive. Without why should they be putting themselves through such arisk. T.I enters the scene with a proposal to his former bank robberfriends having been released from prison. Everyone in the team iswealthy and has no need for risking arrest. This makes no sense! Theplan itself is ridiculous yet it appears the police can never land abullet on one of them. The characters themselves are flat and lifeless. The lack of a motivedoesn't help matters. Idris Elba's character has a troubled sister andMatt Dillon and his partner also have troubles but they lack anyinterest and serve only as a way to draw out the running-time. Whateverhappens to them by the end, you will not care.Regardless of the story or characters, the action is where the filmshould entertain the audience but it fails poorly. One decentfoot-chase through an office can't redeem an ambush scene resulting ina shootout. The audio is reduced while music plays in the foregroundtaking any excitement away. The films almost non-existent ending willalso annoy viewers, making this something that should be missed withouthesitation.

Matthew Turner 2012-04-25 13:49:11

Stylishly directed thriller with some terrific action sequences and mostly strong performances, but the cheese factor is ridiculously high, the characters are thinly drawn and it's morally dubious to say the least.

Brian Orndorf 2012-04-24 05:41:54

It's a misfire with a few cracking action sequences, best viewed at home with a mute button safely within reach...looking as though it was shot with a webcam held by someone with severe allergies.

2012-04-23 13:29:38

Bad plot and too many characters.

I watched this movie last night on Pay for View. What a waste! There were too many characters. The plot could have been good but it was so choppy and hard to follow.

collipal-1 2012-04-22 15:41:30

Mediocre, but moderately entertaining at least

Five talented robbers steal a bank with an incredible precision andaplomb. "Everybody to the ground!", "If you cooperate, nothing willhappen to you!", "Three minutes, boss!". The policemen arrive andsurround the building, but the thieves have a very "ingenious"(translation: infinitely absurd) plan of escape. We then meet thepoliceman who is following the track from the robbers. Naturally, he isa tough and rebel veteran...but his methods work! His personal life isa mess, he is getting divorced and he cannot spend enough time with hislittle daughter. And the only reason he is not an alcoholic is becausethe film is rated PG-13.As you may have already guessed, Takers is one of many ordinary andpredictable "crime thrillers", which steals elements from variousmovies, but mainly from classic films from the genre such as PointBreak, Heat and The Usual Suspects. Nevertheless, I cannot deny thatTakers kept me moderately entertained despite of its mediocrity.The main reason this movie did not bore me is because director JohnLuessenhop orchestrates well filmed action sequences with a franticstyle but which never get confusing. On the negative side, we have thevarious fails from screenplay written by Luessenhop, Peter Allen,Gabriel Casseus and Avery Duff (Were four persons needed in order tocopy the screenplays from Brooklyn's Finest, Armored, Pride and Glory,Miami Vice -the movie-, Dark Blue and The Italian Job -2003-?). Theonly things which seem original are a few scenes related to the "hits"from the thieves, but if we have not seen them before is because theyare so ridiculous they produce some involuntary laughs. And even thoughthe structure of the story is more or less well handled, the charactersare living clichés (Was that the traitor? What a surprise! I would havenever imagined it if I had never seen 100 movies with the same dialogof "one more job and we retire"!).I cannot believe Hayden Christensen is still getting work as an actor,because his work in every movie is simply horrible; Takers is not theexception. The rappers T.I. and Chris Brown do not bring goodperformances at all either. On the positive side from the cast, MattDillon and Jay Hernández have a good chemistry with each other as thetenacious policemen chasing the thieves, and on the other side of thelaw, I can say the same about Idris Elba...and Paul Walker. He mightnot be a great actor, but Walker improved very much in the most recentmovies he has been involved in, and I think that he has finallyovercome the "stiff ex-model without any personality" phase he hadshown before.In conclusion, I have to admit that despite its various fails, Takerskept me moderately entertained, mainly because of the action scenes andbecause of some moments of involuntary humor. In summary, Takers ispredictable and unoriginal, but not boring, and that makes it worthy ofa slight recommendation.

Steve Ramos 2012-04-22 07:32:32

What helps salvage the film...are the unintentional laughs generated by the film's outrageous gun battles, childish dialogue and an action chase featuring Brown that seems to go on forever.

2012-04-16 18:37:30

Great move!!!!

This review is from: Takers [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) I loved this movie when it came out, and BluRay just gives it another boost. I've seen better BluRays (this movie isn't the best 1080p movie), but it still looks great. Definitely a must buy!

Adam Markovitz 2012-04-16 00:57:29

At least they do look sharp in those suits.