Takers: A Movie Review

By: Nate Hemmert

Takers…just another movie about a bank heist or could it be something better? The cast might just tell the story before you’ve even seen the movie.

When a film is graced by the likes of type-casted pretty boy Paul Walker, and a near career ending domestic abuser – Chris Brown, one may begin to question where this movie might be going. To add to the confusion, the cast also includes famous rapper T.I. (Tip Harris), who gained his acting fame and earned the respect of fans in 2007’s highly acclaimed American Gangster. Rounding out the cast is the well-known lifelong actor, Matt Dillon, who has been seen in similar gritty films such as Crash. The cast gives this movie a fighting chance, but it is just that, a fighting chance. Ultimately, one is left wondering – Is this going to be a bust or a must?

I would say the answer to that question is neither. Not a total bust, but nowhere close to a must either. And in all honesty, it’s not the cast that is responsible for the mediocre result of this film. The acting itself, for the most part, was actually done rather well. Paul Walker barely even lives up to his type-casted role; a new sense of maturity seems to help his performance out. Even Chris Brown is believable in his role – the tough and hardened little brother who has become a member of the crew. Matt Dillon plays an over devoted cop. Who, at the cost of his own family, vows to stop this criminal group from another successful heist. Rapper, T.I., plays the role of Ghost – an old member of the team who has just been sprung from the joint. The role of Ghost, a street-hardened gangster, gives T.I. the chance at a role which would seemingly fit his “dope-boy” street thug persona, but this critic questions whether he was too suave of a gangster, especially having just gotten out of prison

In the end though, it is not the actors that are the downfall of this film, but rather the overly cliché and thoroughly used plot – all the way down to stealing an armored car by blowing up the street beneath it. Sound familiar? Seen it done before? Well think again, because these gangsters somehow fail to do the job right! After years of careful planning by Ghost while he was sitting behind bars and a near perfect execution by the team a failure is still at hand. This one simple scene seems to sum up the movie in its entirety – a blundering mess is made out of something that has been done so many times before. I guess blowing the plans seems to be a recurring theme here.