Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Takers Blu-ray Movie Review

The movie: better than it ought to be. The Blu-ray: typical Sony goodness.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 13, 2011

They ain't gonna know what hit 'em.

It's a popular game amongst children: cops and robbers. It's very basic, pitting one child or group of children against the other; it's good versus evil -- even if it's not always that black-and-white in the real world -- and with some requisite violence tossed in for good measure. Takers, a 2010 Heist film directed by the out-of-nowhere John Luessenhop, is essentially a very old idea -- yup, cops and robbers -- polished up and given a dazzling new veneer that's fast enough for modern audiences. Indeed, Takers is a flashy film that hopes to blind viewers with spectacle and mask the fact that it's construction-paper-thin at its core. For once, the razzle-dazzle almost pulls off the impossible; Takers is best enjoyed with a closed mind and modest expectations. The film demands only the attention span of one quick-to-cut shot after another, but the story does weave in some personal character development to give a bit of added weight to the otherwise blink-and-miss-it editing, hence the construction paper, which is a bit more durable than standard stock sheets. Takers is no great shakes, but it's a surprisingly decent movie that will insult the intelligence of only the most demanding of audiences.

Taken.

A Los Angeles bank has just been hit, and hit hard. The well-armed and confident group of criminals are in and out within seconds with a cool $2,000,000, using an unsuspecting television news chopper as their getaway vehicle. For Gordon (Idris Elba, Obsessed), A.J. (Hayden Christensen, Jumper), John (Paul Walker, Into the Blue), and brothers Jesse (Chris Brown, This Christmas) and Jake (Michael Ealy, S.W.A.T.) Attica, this latest hit was just another successful operation, planned to perfection and executed with the efficiency of an experienced and well-oiled machine. Once the dust has settled, the group is surprised by the return of a former member, "Ghost" (T.I., ATL), who as his name suggests appears unexpectedly, having been paroled from prison ahead of schedule. He entices them with a proposition: a dangerous but certainly executable heist of a pair of armored cars that will net the thieves ten times the money of their last operation. When his plan checks out, the gang prepares to pull off the job of their lives. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Detectives Jack Welles (Matt Dillon, Wild Things) and Eddie Hatcher (Jay Hernandez, Hostel) are on the case of the bank robbery and, in their investigation, learn that the group might be planning a massive new job. With the cops hot on their trail and unseen friction and untold dangers on the inside, the "takers" might be betting a whole lot more than they bargained for on this latest -- but most profitable -- score.

Takers is built form the ground up from the Michael Bay school of filmmaking. Here's a movie that hits its audience fast and hard, but to the picture's credit it does slow down just long enough to develop its characters on both sides of the law. There's a fine balance here between hyperkinetic action and even-keeled drama, even if the latter proves to be little more than a bone thrown to audiences who want something more than a completely mindless exercise in cloned Action filmmaking. Takers thrives on its action scenes no doubt, but there's nevertheless some craftiness going on outside the hail of bullets that lend some tidy and not altogether generic intensity and purpose to the various games of cat-and-mouse that play out through the film, whether between cops and robbers or robbers and robbers. Still, the real joy behind Takers is its surprisingly well-done collection of Action scenes that will no doubt recall shootouts from better movies like Heat and True Romance, but John Luessenhop manages to give his just enough personal character to differentiate them, even through some readily apparent similarities. In fact, his grand finale is a ballet of bullets that's as crafty and attention-grabbing as any other action piece of recent vintage.

Takers looks sort of like the next Armored in terms of plot and cast. Both heist movies, both sporting quality casts with plenty of names but none of them really "big," and both featuring Matt Dillon, but Takers isn't quite as dull and nowhere close to being as routine as Nimród Antal's flashy wannabe. While Takers isn't going to alter the cinematic landscape, it gives a bit more attention to detail than does Armored, and its characters are built up just a bit better, too, even if some of the angles are as tired as the Heist genre itself. There's a good enough mix and just the right amount of character development that the movie feels evenly spaced, giving each primary room to breathe between the action pieces, even if that development falls primarily into cliché that serves to give the movie a semblance of something that exists beyond the norm. Still, the ensemble cast is fairly good; Paul Walker -- one of the more underrated actors of the past decade or so -- delivers a steady performance that's typical of his efforts in similar Action pictures, and co-star Hayden Christensen even manages better than his standard stiffness that's plagued his every performance since Episode II.

Takers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

In terms of its visual presentation, Takers is everything a Blu-ray should be. Sony's latest is another of their masterwork transfers, this one a crisp, steady, and nearly faultless effort that brings Director John Luessenhop's digitally-captured movie to Blu-ray in a nearly impeccable package. In fact, this digital movie looks so good on Blu-ray that it's often easy to mistake it for film; the image sports a definite sense of depth and stability that's usually only found in 35mm prints, and that's not to mention the very film-like approach to detail and color that's evident throughout. Colors are bold but natural, the palette steady and accurate in its reproduction of bright hues and more basic tones alike, no matter the lighting or shading. Detail, too, excels, the transfer capturing all of the nuances of a richly-appointed bank interior and various run-down locales with equal precision. Likewise, skin and clothes textures impress a great deal, the transfer bringing to life the finest nuances in both and, indeed, in most every object seen in the movie. This transfer is wonderfully sharp with absolutely no softness even at a distance. Clarity is stunning throughout, and the transfer is free of blemish save for some readily noticeable instances of banding that probably won't bother most viewers; some of the heaviest occurrences may be seen during a police interrogation in chapter nine or following an explosion and around the periphery of a large hole in the ground in chapter 12. Otherwise, there's absolutely no room for complaint here; black levels and skin tones are both superb, rounding out a consistently eye-catching and reference-grade transfer from Sony.

Takers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Takers is a movie big on flash and style and dynamic action scenes, so it would seem a necessary ingredient would be a killer soundtrack. Sony's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless presentation is just that. It's hefty and exciting, the perfect companion to this sort of film. Still, it's in many ways fairly standard stuff for a Blu-ray Action movie new release. There's nothing groundbreaking or even all that memorable about the track, but it's nevertheless a big, room-filling presentation that will satisfy even listeners who have heard this same type of track dozens of times over. The film opens with a ridiculously loud but incredibly clear and robust music track that suddenly dies down into a tinny nothing of a background noise over a car radio when dialogue and atmospherics take over; this music track sounds great both ways for what it's meant to be, setting a good tone for the remainder of the movie. Action sound effects -- gunfire mostly -- are intense and suitably deadly-in-delivery, with shots zipping around the listening area and the subsequent impacts into various surfaces and the sound of shattered glass doing a good job of bringing the action home. The back channels carry sound effects, music, and atmospherics for the duration of the film. Dialogue is wonderfully clear and satisfying, sounding big but crisp and effective from the front middle speaker. The whole track has a wonderful cinematic flavor to it, playing as big, grand, and infinitely clear. It's nothing new for this sort of movie and it's old ground for a contemporary Blu-ray release, but that doesn't make Takers' lossless soundtrack any less effective.

Takers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Takers features a standard assortment of extras, highlighted by a four-participant audio commentary track.

• Audio Commentary: Director John Luessenhop and Producers Will Packer, Jason Geter, and "T.I." Harris provide a laid back and entertaining but also informative track that covers some of the filmmaking nuances while also delving into some of the bigger, more sweeping generalities that tend to be discussed in the average commentary track. The participants seem to enjoy reminiscing about the movie as they discuss wardrobe, shooting various scenes, the characters, the purpose behind several shots, and plenty more. As far as multi-participant commentaries go, this is a solid all-around effort, despite a few brief stretches of silence.
• Executing the Heist: The Making of Takers (1080p, 11:13): A very basic piece that features cast and crew talking up the movie and its cast, constructed from cast and crew interview snippets, behind-the-scenes footage, and clips from the film.
• Take Action! (1080p, 10:08): A short piece that focuses on the making of the film's more intense action scenes.
• Music Promo (1080p, 4:31): "Yeah Ya Know (Takers)" by T.I.
• Previews for additional Sony titles.
• BD-Live.
• MovieIQ.

Takers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ultimately, Takers is a, forgive the pun, take-it-or-leave-it sort of picture, but chances are genre fans will want to give it a go. John Luessenhop shows some serious skill and manages to make a very routine script into something that's a bit better than it should be. Considering his demonstrated proficiency in turning action scenes into works of art and his good sense of style and pace, Takers isn't a movie to be, again, sorry for the pun, taken too lightly. It won't make any lasting waves, but it's still a fine all-around effort that should please Action fans. Not bad for an out-of-nowhere director making only his second film and first in a decade. Here's hoping Luessenhop has another project lined up. Takers makes its way to Blu-ray in typical Sony fashion. The disc sports top-of-the-line technical specs and a fair assortment of extras. Takers is definitely worth a rental, but fans can buy with confidence and the disc is worth a blind buy once the price drops down to the $15 range.