Takers

Rappers seem to enjoy being in movies these days. Though, I must say, it doesn’t always instill a great amount of promise in the project before hand. I mean Chris Brown was pretty good back in his three-episode arch on The O.C, but come on. Takers stars a combination of actors and rappers in an old fashioned heist movie. The group comes of their biggest heist yet only to be thrown into another job when their former colleague is released from jail. As expected, things to don’t go as expected.

Sandwiched in between a promising opening sequence and explosive ending, is an incredibly slow story. The character development is half-cocked because of the number of lead characters involved. Interesting parts played by well-known actors, like Zoe Saldana and Hayden Chrisensen, are completely one-dimensional with no real attempt at making them more than place fillers. That’s not to say the actors would have been able to carry any kind of complex storyline to the bank anyway. Idris Elba and Matt Dillion would be two of only a few players I can fairly say gave strong performances. The others ranged from pretty good (Jay Hernandez) to laughable (T.I).

In addition to the acting and script flubs, Takers Suffers from thinking they’re more epic than the parts. I shall exclude any spoilers but the “down in a blaze of glory” type ending is too much for the audience’s connection to the characters. While a slight emotional connection is drawn, this isn’t a three-film epic. It’s actually just a 90-minute movie with some bank robbing and a ton of plotting and planning, and then some scheming after that. The familiar names will most likely bring an audience to the theater. A good number of them probably won’t be disappointed. I was just a little bored. Takers will be a nice addition to everyone’s Paul Walker collection. Hey, we all have one. (6.5 out of 10)