TAKERS

Takers stars Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Matt Dillon, Hayden Christensen, Tip "T.I." Harris, Chris Brown, Michael Ealy, Jay Hernandez, and a very brief and pointless role for Zoe Saldana. Directed by John Luessenhop. Rated PG-13 with a running time of 1 hr. and 47 mins.

A notorious group of criminals (Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen and Michael Ealy) continue to baffle police by pulling off perfectly executed bank robberies. They are in and out like clockwork, leaving no evidence behind and laying low in between heists. But when they attempt to pull off one last job which is recommended by their old friend Ghost (T.I.) fresh out of jail. With more money at stake than ever before, the crew may find their plans interrupted by a hardened detective (Matt Dillon) who is hell bent on solving the case.

I was very afraid that this movie would be acted very badly and have poor direction. But for the most part that is not the case. Let me start with the good acting and the not so good acting. Idris Elba has great charisma as the leader of the pack and he is not as bad as you think because you see that the group of robbers don't hurt anyone in the process to get money. They only have guns for intimidation and to get what they want which is money. Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen are not horrible actors but they aren't good actors either. They aren't really given much to do and you just don't see them as acting. Its kind of odd. Its as if they are just there sticking out like a sore thumb. As for Chris Brown he isn't terrible because the director is smart to not have him act much. His big scene is a chase scene through LA that just requires him to run. That scene was one of the more entertaining scenes in the movie. As for T.I. I think he was given the right role as the one member of the robbers that is kind of mysterious in his motives and lets just say he is not as good as the other members of the pack. To me you can believe that T.I. would be bad guy in a movie. I can't see T.I. being an action hero and I think he knows that. So T.I. works into the film decently. While he is not a good actor yet he looks comfortable onscreen and thats the first step. Matt Dillon is fine but doesn't really stand out as the cop hot on their trail.

I believe that Takers is an above average heist thriller because of 2 reasons. 1: Idris Elba can really act and he just has a certain swagger about him that is charming and engaging so it makes you get involved in the story and you care for his character more. 2: I love the fact that the movie had me rooting for the robbers near the end because going in to the film your like Oh i hope there robbers get caught. But you see that they aren't really bad ruthless people except T.I. who is the films baddie. Also with the exception of Chris Brown's character for reasons I won't disclose because it gives away plot points of the film. But all in all for what it is Takers is a movie that entertains for a majority of the film and its goes beyond the stereotypes of typical cops and robbers. Takers is a fair movie.

B-