Takers: Critic Reviews

At least they do look sharp in those suits.

Conceived and executed with just enough skill and flair to make you wish it were better.

Wall-to-wall music, glossy handheld camerawork and frantic editing all conspire to try and make this seem a lot more exciting than the relentlessly unimaginitive script deserves.

The dialogue is cliched and laughable. It's a film far more concerned with style -- architectural, vehicular and wardrobe-related -- than substance.

Luessenhop and his antic camera are after a kineticism that eludes them: He shoots too closely; he's practically crawling up his characters' nostrils with his unhinged camera.

Takers might have made a perfectly decent little B heist movie, but someone had to go and forget to give the cameraman his Ritalin.

Amidst the gangsta posing and some overly operatic shootouts, [Dillon] helps give Takers some crucial currency.

Someone has to say it, so I will: Shaky cam is out of control.

as long as you understand exactly what kind of hack cinema you are getting into, Takers can be pretty fun.

Laughable subplots about Elba's addicted sister (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and Dillon's crooked partner (Jay Hernandez) only slow the action, which is all this movie has going for it.

Takers is a slick heist film, but that's all it is.

A respectable but watered-down heist movie.

A Michael Mann-ish heist thriller with a pulse-pounding foot chase and some terrific stunt work offsetting its hackneyed plot and dialogue.

The performers are given stock types to play, and Elba and Dillon, at least, can do a little with that.

The screenplay is credited to four writers, director John Luessenhop among them, and they've all been busy cutting-and-pasting from other movies.

Once you get past the recycled quality of the characters and dialogue, the movie has some stylish action sequences and moderately clever plot turns.

It's hard to imagine anyone who sees the movie not being at least moderately engaged.

The stunt work is amazing, and the pace is breathless enough to keep one watching right up to the somewhat ambiguous conclusion.

Even with all of the action, and with a few plot twists that are kinda cool, there's really not enough to Takers to make it worth your time.

Not even a good effort from Matt Dillon -- who seems to play the hard-done-by cop/security guard for the umpteenth time here -- can provide this stodgy outing with the caffeine kick it is sorely in need of.

The film borrows from dozens of classic heist pictures, but adds very little fresh, original or exciting to the mix.

Mindless mayhem perfect for fans of pyrotechnics for pyrotechnics sake!

A consistently unwatchable actioner...

Borrows from its' genre without embarassing itself.