REVIEW: Takers

Before I launch into my review of the movie, I should probably state my bias. I have been looking forward to the release of this movie all summer, as it contains two of the five men on my “Gimme List”, T.I. and the impossibly hot Idris Elba. That said, I would have been standing in line on opening weekend even if the pre-release buzz had been wack. But, I’m happy to report that TAKERS provided me with an afternoon of solid entertainment, well worth the price of admission.

Don’t get me wrong, TAKERS is definitely a sausage-fest (in fact, there was only one female character in the ENTIRE movie if I’m not mistaken). Luckily for me, I like sausage. TAKERS covers all the classic testosterone-driven themes–greed, arrogance, revenge, etc. with lots of shootouts and spectacular explosions. The action was non-stop, the ensemble cast was solid (nice to see Matt Dillon still getting work, lol), and everybody did their job beautifully, (even Chris Brown, who I must say was perfectly cast). Chris had a very stunt-intensive role, which he really pulled off, and for those of us who haven’t quite forgiven him for beating on poor Rihanna, I must say it was very satisfying to see him getting beat up, banged up, and hit by cars (not once, but twice!).

T.I. was COLD as the movie’s villian, and he did the damn thing. However, I had to agree with James’ post-flick comment that it would have been awesome to see Tupac play the role of Ghost. Pac would have killed it.

Granted, there are some things I would have done differently. I found the violin music during the closing gun battle incredibly cheesy, and I felt the treatment of that sole female character to be disturbingly misogynistic (guess she didn’t have his back, right?). However, the stunts were great, the eye-candy was top notch, and hello, Idris Elba in silk boxers?! Ladies, really, isn’t that all the incentive you need right there?

All and all, while not quite on the level of Scorsese’s The Departed, in my opinion it was definitely better than the Ocean’s Eleven films. (It reminded me a lot of Armageddon, actually). A really fun film, which I plan to see again. Please do your part to support black film/actors/producers at the box office — demonstrating demand for films like this will help ensure more of them get made