Takers

I saw Takers back to back with The Town, which was an interesting experience as they are both heist movies, but very different in their execution. Whilst, apart from the final scenes, The Town gave a more realistic and gritty approach to robberies, Takers goes the other way, what with the protagonists strolling around, smoking cigars, wearing the latest threads from GQ Magazine and generally living the high life. No going underground with these boys. In the film, the members of the gang (including Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Chris Brown and Hayden Christiensen) find their relaxed lifestyle of taking and then chillin’ interrupted by the release of a previous member of their gang from jail and a proposal he brings. Despite being wary, the gang prepare to undertake a new heist, whilst unbeknown to them, a cop (Matt Dillon) is also on their tail. With the exception of Elba and Dillon the acting here isn’t all that great (though you could say there is plenty of decent strutting on show) and there are clichéd characters ahoy, not least Dillon’s pre-occupied with the job bad father (yawn). However, director John Luessenhop neatly fits the pieces of the plot together, cutting between gang members discussing, arguing, planning, to the police who are also.....well…discussing, arguing and planning. The main heist scene is nicely executed, with a fair about of tension bought to the fore. On the down side, it all goes a bit John Woo towards the end and some people might take umbrage at the glamorisation of, well, theft (and that’s fair enough). If this looks like your cup of tea I think you’ll enjoy it enough not to feel robbed yourself.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
This is an FHM magazine readers dream, but you can’t deny that it is, for all its faults, cool. Rating: 7/10.