Even with the impressive number of films released in the past three months, I couldn’t help but feel like something was missing from the summer box-office in terms of variety…luckily, with a stylish heist thriller composed of an ensemble cast, Takers was able to ensure that Hollywood covered as many genres as possible during this movie season. Admittedly, I wasn’t thrilled when I first saw the cast listing; despite the controversy surrounding Chris Brown. I’m sure that his presence, combined with that of T.I., was more than enough to create a draw for music fans. No, my biggest gripe involved the presence of Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen; Walker has been in some good movies, but against the rest of the cast he just felt out of place…and then there’s Christensen, who was easily the worst part of Star Wars prequel trilogy. Regardless of some questionable casting, Screen Gems still promoted the hell out of Takers, with trailers all over television and billboards on nearly every street corner. While this clearly wasn’t going to be the next Ocean’s Eleven or The Italian Job, Takers still seemed like it could be pretty enjoyable.
What Takers lacks in charm or originality it makes up for in style…at times it is painfully obvious that the plot borrows heavily from classic heist films, but it is done in such a way that the audience forgets that they have seen such elements before. The cast is almost instantaneously likable, and even though the individual characters are a little simplistic and generic, they all work incredibly well together. Paul Walker was anything but memorable, but T.I. played a convincing villain and Hayden Christensen’s performance was surprisingly enjoyable. Reviews have been shockingly critical for Takers, many complaining about the unoriginal aspects of the movie, and while I agree with the criticism, I still found the film engaging and entertaining. Bottom line, Takers is far from original, as I guarantee audiences will be able to identify where they have seen elements from the film in past heist movies, but it is still offers enough style and entertainment to fully justify having taken the top spot its opening weekend.
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Overall Recommendation: Medium
