Takers is full of tough guys. The cops are tough guys. The robbers are tough guys. Everyone is a tough guy. You can't really empathize with the characters since they're all tough guys. At least that's the way it is in the beginning, but as the movie progresses so do the emotional aspects of the movie. It does get better. Some tough life situations are unraveled, two buddy cops, one corrupt, one thug with a drugged up sister stealing his marked money, a convict recently released that could be setting he whole gang up in what turns out to be the major robbery in this movie.

There's a lot of potential but unfortunately the movie doesn't make full use of it. The actors don't have much character of their own, it feels like they're just running off the script all the way through. When there's action it's pretty intense, but when there's no action it feels a bit too scripted. The camera angles aren't very creative, nor is the setting or plot.

Not to mention all the frequently abused clichés and stereotypes that this movie uses.

The filming is gritty and unnecessarily shaky. There's one great chase scene, where the human object of the chase is doing all sorts of crazy freerunning/parkour stunts, such as jumping off a ledge onto the hood of a car on a parking garage at least 3 meters below, over a large gap. There's a lot of potential in this chase especially, but they shake the camera enough to destroy plenty of it. It's a shame. They should try to learn something from Asian movies, where they usually manage to make great action sequences without making a big mess out of it.

The movie starts off with one successful robbery in which a selected few (antagonists? protagonists? still unclear, even at the end) get away with 2 million in a hijacked news helicopter. The final gunfight is intense. In fact, all the action is intense, and there's always suspense, but the movie needs more than that. Maybe it's because there's no clear divider between good and bad guys. There is no winning or losing. This movie could have been so much better if there was. It could have been on par with Oceans 11 or The Bank Job, but as it is, it's not. It's worth watching, it's still good action, I'm just not happy with the wasted potential.

Obviously they had a big budget, judging by all the cars and sets that get wrecked. Wish they had used it better.

 rated 3/5: not bad

January, 2018

Holy shit this movie was so much better than I remembered (and considered, judging by the review above, which... does have some truth to it but not all the same opinions as I had this time around)! There's so much pain, and emotion, and violence! And most of all: there's just no mercy. It's a cop and robbers story with a lot of dead ends, and little light at the end of the tunnel. The further it goes the crazier it gets...

It's not Paul Walker's last movie, but I wish it would have been something like this, instead of that Brick Mansions fiasco. He's not the most prominent character here, but he's one in a team, and maybe the craziest guy in the bunch - and the quickest one too - and the one with the nicest car. He does it alright, even if he doesn't do it ALL right.

One interesting thing about this movie is that the main villain, and loser, is also the producer! T.I. Did not know. Wouldn't have expected, but it turned out great! Chris Brown is in there too, btw, not that it's relevant but...

The script might not be the most unique, but it has some Ocean's 11 vibes, and really reeks of realism. It's wild, brutal... even a bit artistic (theatrical?), and the threat is always close by. Life and death... a life of gamble. That's what being a Taker is all about. Great watch.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle