Frank Swietek

24 May 2012

With apologies to Henny Youngman, take this movie--please.

Adam Williams

24 May 2012

A mess

This movie is a mess. The filming is far to up-close. The charactersare straight-up stereotypes (bad cop, bad guy swagger, good father, badfather). The plot: dropping a armored car down through the street intoa subway tunnel isn't original. Then two of the bad guys walk stoicallyout to a death-by-cops. By a third of the way through the movie they'vecommitted enough crimes to be wanted by Interpol and by the end of themovie they'd be on the terrorist watch list - they're going to need waymore money then they can hope to heist. Add a bit of Russian mafia(shooting up a high-end hotel in the middle of an American city....good luck with that). The worst part being - there are no good guys inthe movie, nobody you'd really want to root for.

Jeff Niesel

22 May 2012

Matt Dillon's the only thing going for this heist flick

Formydaughter85

21 May 2012

Surprised and Satisfied!

Surprised at the ratings of this movie. Yeah, there were a couple farfetched scenes, but I thought it was a great movie! All of the actorsdid very well in this film. T.I. needed some better lines and hisacting needs work. Hayden Christensen did great in Jumper and had agreat performance in this film. Paul Walker still seemed to have thesame style as in his past Fast and Furious roles. There was a good feelto the characters. The Town just got boring for me and this filmsurpassed it big time. This movie had more action sequences! One of myfavorites! Everyone is open to their own opinion of this film, but Ihope this helps.

20 May 2012

Not worth it!!

This review is from: Takers (Amazon Instant Video) I rented this movie thinking it was going to be good! I was mistaken, it was pretty horrible!!!! I don't know how people paid to see this in the movie theater because it wasn't even worth renting for 3.99!!!

19 May 2012

A Special Effects-Driven Extravaganza of Regurgitated Mediocrity

This is basically a music video populated by several young and suave black guys and a couple of their, uh, coworkers, young and suave white guys who hang out in expensive hotels, sip rare whiskey, parade around in suits, and of course, wow the ladies. Occasionally these guys, the "Takers," pull an armed robbery to finance this lavish lifestyle, but what really separates them from old money whiteys is their ability to fly helicopters, plan and execute a sophisticated subterranean drilling operation on municipal property (gasp! - without a permit), perform some serious demolition work, AND throw down feats of daring-do that would put any special forces operator or Olympic-level track athlete or gymnast to shame. There's shooting, explosions, a high body count, vehicular carnage aplenty, and even Matt Dillon, who's done some good work before (i.e., "My Bodyguard," "Drugstore Cowboy," "Wild Things," et al.), so it should be a pretty good movie, right? Not so fast.Dillon's an overworked cop dealing with an Internal Affairs investigation, single parenthood, a corrupt partner (Oops! Did I ruin it?) and, oh yeah, the "Takers." He spends the better part of two hours roughin' up suspects, driving around, dodging bullets - well, except for the one he didn't (Damn! Ruined it AGAIN!). Let it be said that particular bullet was a plot necessity - the movie just couldn't (and wouldn't) end without it."Takers" is really about bad guys who are actually just decent folk once you get to know them - the kind with strong values, honor and all that junk. They just happen to be in a profession not yet appreciated by mainstream society, so there are no messy moral conundrums to get all bogged down in. Dillon's character, although ethically challenged at times, is a pretty nice guy, too. This brings us to the flick's real conundrum - there are just too darn many good guys to root for! For want of some real bad guys, the filmmakers hauled in some Russians, vicious thugs lacking in humanity (as evidenced by their complete lack of fashion sense) and out to cheat the movie's good bad guys (the "Takers") out of the hard-earned fruits of their crimes.Had the "Takers" makers been content with just making the music video this movie frequently devolves into, that would have been great, `cause it would have all been over in 3 - 4 minutes. Unfortunately, somebody got clever and added a story, characters, dialogue, attempts at drama, suspense, humor, and yes, even poignancy. The end result? A special effects-driven extravaganza of regurgitated mediocrity identical to 8,000 other crime capers released earlier this week, bereft of anything approaching originality, freshness, excitement or plausibility. "Takers" isn't fun, entertaining or fit for human consumption - leave it on the video store shelf!

17 May 2012

Not very original yet entertaining

The storyline to Takers is not very original and reminded me of some previous similar movies like, 'Heat' or 'Set it Off" from the 90's, yet it is entertaining and interesting. Never got lost or bored during the film and kept my attention well from beginning to end. The ending was so so I thought and could have maybe been a little better. Don't think I have seen a movie with Matt Dillon in it that I have not liked. Overall if you like crime/mystery type films should be worth one viewing.Peter J. MillerTraverse City, MIpeterjoemiller@gmail.com

Nick Schager

17 May 2012

A mini-Michael Mann effort populated by one-dimensional clichés.

Gary Thompson

15 May 2012

A punchy and surprisingly un-awful actioner...

flexible140

14 May 2012

Much Better than 5.7 Rating

This is a solid action movie that exceeds where a lot of other moviesin this genre fail specifically a straight forward plot with a fewextra story lines that connect the dots (please note spoilers). Nothingwe haven't seen before and overall no great acting here but the actionscenes are solid especially the one involving Chris Brown (excellentfoot chase). My one disappointment is not giving Zoe Saldana morescreen time. And Matt Dillon does a great job with the material here sonot sure why some people are panning this movie since it kept myinterest a lot better than some similar action films didn't (i.e.Armored) so if you are a fan of Heist movies give this one a chance.

12 May 2012

I LASTED 20 MINUTES

This was a confusing and mostly boring heist picture. I lasted about twenty minutes with it and didn't see it getting any more interesting so I tossed the DVD into the air and blew it away with my shotgun. WHEN WATCHED: mid April 2011; MY GRADE: C minus.

Brian Tallerico

11 May 2012

An above-average heist thriller that's undone by poor screenwriting and worse post-production.

10 May 2012

awesome

This review is from: Takers (DVD) my purchase came fast and on time.Everything was packed nice and neat,the disc had no scratches on it. The movie was good and awesome I will tell everyone to order their movies and anything else too

09 May 2012

Blu-ray A solid presentation on Blu-ray, A popcorn action flick that I enjoyed more than Oceans Eleven!

An action-packed, adrenaline-driven cops vs. robbers film with an all-star cast!"Takers" was released in theaters back in the summer of 2010 and features an all-star ensemble cast which includes Matt Dillon, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown, Idris Elba, T.I., Jay Hernandez, Paul Waker, Hayden Christensen and Zoe Saldana.The film is directed by John Luessenhop ("Lockdown") and features a screenplay written by Luessenhop, Gabriel Casseus, Peter Allen, John Rogers and Avery Duff. The film featured a budget of $32 million and earned $68 million in the box office.VIDEO:"Takers" is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:40:1 aspect ratio) and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's track record of magnificent picture quality continues as the overall look of "Takers" is stylish. The cinematography of capturing Los Angeles by cinematographer Michael Barrett ("Bedtime Stories", "You Don't Mess with the Zohan", "Bobby") is wonderfully captured. Because the director and producers wanted Los Angeles to be like a character in itself, typically when the camera is focused on a character, the background is blurry. But in this case, both the character and the Los Angeles skyline, various buildings and landmarks are seen clearly through the background.Colors are vibrant, blacks are nice and deep and the detail is impeccable. You can see the detail when Paul Walker holds his rifle with the sights to the shine on a weapon, the sweat and grime on skin, there is a great amount of detail and overall, this is a wonderful transfer. I didn't see any artifacting or video blemishes, this is a very awesome looking film on Blu-ray.AUDIO & SUBTITLES:"Takers" also sports one hell of a lossless soundtrack. Presented in English, French, Portuguese 5.1 and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, its the lossless soundtrack that truly excels.Due to the amount of action, from gunshots, helicopter explosions, cars crashing into each other, crowd ambiance through the surround channels, there is a lot going on in this soundtrack and it's a very good example of an awesome, immersive soundtrack. While not top-tier to films with constant action and explosions, there is a good amount of action throughout the film, especially during a scene with a gunfight between the Takers and another group. That scene really rocked with front and surround channels going crazy and I was impressed. Dialogue and music is crystal clear through the center and front channels but this is another lossless soundtrack done well!Subtitles are presented in English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese.SPECIAL FEATURES:"Takers" features the following special features in High Definition, English Stereo and subtitles: English, Spanish and Portuguese: * * PS3 Wallpaper Theme - If you have a Sony PlayStation 3, you can install a "Takers" wall-paper theme. * BD Exclusive: movieIQ (use logo) and BD-Live connect you to real-time information on the cast, music, trivia and more while watching the movie! * Filmmaker and Cast Commentary - A pretty cool audio commentary with Director John Luessenhop, Producers Will Packer, T.I. and Jason Getter. Intriguing commentary especially how T.I. was very grateful to everyone who was part of the film as he gave a special gift to everyone involved. * Executing the Heist: The Making of Takers - (11:13) The talent of "Takers" talk about their characters and producer Will Packer talks about how the film was inspired by the movie "Heat". * Take Action! - (10:08) A featurette on the action sequences. From how Chris Brown did the majority of his stunts, blowing up a helicopter scene and the money truck drop to the sewer. * "Yeah Ya Know (Takers)" By T.I. - Promotional Music Video - (4:31) Featuring a Takers promotional video with T.I.'s "Yeah Ya Know (Takers)" song.JUDGMENT CALL:"Takers" is one of those popcorn action flicks that may be derivative and has been compared to "Ocean's Eleven". Well, personally I enjoyed "Takers" much more than "Ocean's Eleven" (2001). "Takers" is a film that balances urban-chic with as the film does showcase Black men, they are not gangsters. These guys are a criminals that live the good life, are very meticulous when it comes to their planning and in someway, the film manages to make you feel sympathetic for the criminals.Also, the primary difference with "Ocean's Eleven" aside from the all-star cast is that "Takers" does have its ramifications, not everyone is going to live by the end of the film and personally, it's one of the biggest problems I have had with "Ocean's Eleven" is that you want to see some sort of ramification between the cops vs. the robbers. In this movie, not only is it cops vs. robbers, it features Russian gangsters vs. the robbers and also some double crossing that although not too surprising, you feel content by how things play out and how the film leaves things open for a sequel.I felt the stars of this film had great chemistry. Idris Elba as the leader, Paul Walker as the right hand man, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown and Hayden Christensen do a pretty solid job. In fact, it was good to see a more edgier, kick-ass side to Hayden Christensen's character. Also, surprising was to find out that Chris Brown did many of his stunts for the film and was insistent of it (according to Brown, 96% of the stunts are by him).The cinematography was also worth noting as how the filmmakers are able to capture Los Angeles and its building and landmarks and showing them behind the talent and capturing the city's beauty while the camera is focused on the talent.But as much as I enjoyed "Takers", the screenplay does have some problems. The storyline tries to humanize the character of Gordon Cozier by throwing him a curveball by bringing his addict sister Naomi Cozier to the film. Personally, I felt this storyline was unnecessary and it draws people away from the action and from the core group. I understand the filmmakers want to show a side to Gordon that makes you feel sympathetic but I felt that it was unnecessary as it takes Gordon away from "The Takers" as he is too preoccupied of where his sister runs off to.Another storyline that I felt was unnecessary was regarding the two investigators played by Matt Dillon and Jay Hernandez. The screenplay tries to showcase the men with their faults and personally, we know that everyone has their own personal faults but as much as the "Takers" were a group that have been literally untouchable, it would have been better to showcase the LAPD investigators in a way as fearless and are willing to do all it takes to capture the Takers but the screenplay goes off into a tangent and once again, although the storyline worked, I didn't think it was necessary.You typically want to see the police as strong and as smart as the people they are going against and in this case, the film gave you this no confidence that these two investigators had what it takes to captures these guys. It was like watching a an old Laurel & Hardy film about how they are always able to outwit the police and police are shown as dumb and inept. If a sequel is going to be made for this film, at least give the police some credibility.Overall, "Takers" is a popcorn action flick that has plenty of balls-to-the-wall action, awesome shootouts and on Blu-ray, the film looks and sounds absolutely wonderful. But if you are wanting something deep and original, "Takers" is not that kind of film. It's stuck within the banality of other similar-type of films and is more of a popcorn action-flick which has panache, cool cinematography and an intriguing cast of characters.If you are in the mood for an action-based heist film, definitely give "Takers" a try!

capone666

07 May 2012

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)

NickieQ

06 May 2012

Worth watching at least once

Who doesn't want to watch a movie with actors that have the looks andthe talent!? Minus TI, he should just stick to music. I thought themovie was entertaining. It kept my attention throughout the whole hourand a half. Its not a movie that will stand out in my mind for a longtime. Its not one of those movies i would watch over and over but it isdefinitely worth seeing at least once. The story line is a typical butits just a different twist to a typical robbery movie. Over all I sayits a good movie, i liked it. Kept me entertained. Its one of thosemovies you have to see how the end turns out. Do they away or do theyget caught?

05 May 2012

Lots of Action!

I enjoyed Takers! I think the acting was great, storyline lacked substance and could have been better thought out.

JoeytheBrit

05 May 2012

All over the place - but entertaining

This is a real bloke's movie, filled with heists, car chases andgunfights galore. It's also pretty good on a visceral level, appealingto that part of most men that sometimes just wants to kick back and beentertained without having to engage their brain too much. Having saidthat, the storyline isn't always as clear as it could be, so it's justas well there's plenty of action to stop us from dwelling on it.Matt Dillon plays your average grizzled cop, struggling to connect withhis young daughter while on the trail of a gang of ultra-coolhigh-class bank robbers led by Idris Elba and Paul Walker. This gang isso cool that the movie shamelessly invites more impressionable membersof the audience to admire them rather than the dogged Mr Dillon and hispartner. They're filmed in slow-motion walking towards the camera,smiling, laughing, back-slapping, all talking at once; they wearexpensive designer suits like fashion models on a catwalk and give aportion of their ill-gotten gains to charity. These are bad guyswritten good, which might disturb some – but the story is sounrealistic that it's kind of hard to work up the necessary adrenalineto be bothered by them. Anyway, Sinatra and his clan were getting awaywith it fifty years ago, so it's not exactly controversial.Where the film does fall down is in its decision to ask us to identifyequally with both the good guys and the bad guys, which means it has todevote roughly equal screen time to both, although more of Dillon'sstory is told at the beginning of the film. This means it loses focus,and the plot isn't quite as tightly-knit as it ought to be.Nevertheless, there's a terrific extended chase sequence, a greatshootout between two gangs of bad guys (naturally, the Russians getinvolved) and even a Butch and Sundance homage.It's not award-winning stuff, but Takers clearly sets out to please aclearly-defined target audience and succeeds in doing just that. Itsstyle, drive and energy means it should also appeal to many whowouldn't normally watch this kind of flick. Even my partner liked it,and she usually gives the thumbs down to anything more violent than aBridget Jones movie…

04 May 2012

A Great Watch

This review is from: Takers (DVD) In my opinion, any movie that has both Hayden Christensen and Paul Walker in it is great to watch. Although Takers seems kind of predictable at times, this is still a movie that you should watch at least once.

Matthew Turner

03 May 2012

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.