Loved it. This movie is a quintessential guy movie. No wasted dialogue or subplots not directly related to the main plot. All comparisons to this work are nowhere close to what lies at the heart of this film. If you want to complain about the Italian Job trick it's pointless because T.I.'s character points it out that he wants to do an "Italian Job," snatch and grab. Needless to say it goes a bit differently. This is a unique take on a classic premise.
This film is all about the point of view it follows. Guy goes to jail, doesn't turn on his friends, guy gets released, friends worry about future police contact and being seen with a marked man, things get sketchy. These are very believable ideas and a fresh spin. Too many times in movies you're left thinking there is no way someone could pull that off and then things become silly. Not here. If you feel the need to compare Takers to another film it's basically a sexed up hipper Heat (a complement because it's another gritty believable crime drama). Right down to the high rollers, armored truck, and black duffel bags used to carry the load. Only instead of Michael Sizemore making a run for it with a trunk load of dough you have bad boy Chris Brown showing off his dexterity as he tries to allude being captured.
If you know anything about film making, every director and writer gets influenced from previous works. The very first movies got influenced from great literary pieces. So, to complain about similarities is ignorant. This isn't a synopsis so I won't waste your time summarizing the movie. Highlights for me where it got stimulating and raw were the fight scene with Hayden Christensen (laying down the law) and the free running getaway chase scene with Chris Brown (sic).
I'm a theatre arts senior so I can appreciate quality film making when I see it. Old school action without the seizure inducing over digitalizations. I used to be a computer arts major. Boring, not to mention tedious no matter how fun it is to watch. Not needed here. All biases aside, this was a great film. It's quick, witty, detailed, fashionable, and above all believable seemingly without trying. For everyone complaining about T.I.'s acting get your head examined. For one, he basically is this character in real life so whatever he does is believable. Do you not know that he did just get out of prison for being set up by the FEDs for purchasing an arsenal. T.I. is one of the best cross profession actors out there (including Will Smith who is also great). This movie took some of the best young talent and gave them a script which brought out their better qualities. The ensemble was brilliant in it's own right. You get Christensen, Elba, Dillon, Hernandez, Walker, T.I., the infamous Brown all co-starring and pulling it off like they've been friends for years. What I liked the most about this film is that it's all substance and no meandering into pointless directions. If anything it could have gone into even more background information about the characters. The fact is, it doesn't have to. This is the world that is created where everyone is on a need to know basis, even the audience. We get all of the meat with very little fat. If you don't like this movie you must have an aversion to action movies and or be really feminine. If you're a guy and don't absolutely dig this flick, I'm pulling your man card.
