Film Review: Something’s Gotta Give With T.I., Matt Dillon in ‘Takers’

CHICAGO – The ensemble cast is decent, the story fits the action/adventure essence of the heist film and one of the hottest music stars of the moment, Tip “T.I.” Harris, has a prominent role. Then why is the new film “Takers” such a seen-it-all-before exercise in action blandness? It feels like a total waste of all those resources.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

Four writers were necessary to pen the screenplay regarding a gang of robbers – including Hayden Christensen, Chris Brown and Paul Walker – who keep a low profile by doing only one prominent and well-planned heist a year. The film takes great pains to show the sophistication of the gang in general, showcasing an unnecessary debate on foreign currency investment and plenty of expensive cigars. What it doesn’t express is why we should care or consider them anti-heroes.

Gordon Jennings (Idris Elba) is the de facto leader of the heist gang, and is the point man on the robbery that opens the film. The boys rob a major bank with a meticulous plan that foils security and a cop named Jack Welles (Matt Dillon). Welles becomes obsessed with the case, and uses his partner Eddie (Jay Hernandez) as a sounding board for his general frustration with the system.

Enter the “Ghost” (T.I.), a former member of the gang who took a bullet during one of their past jobs. Doing some prison time, he comes out of the joint with an expectation that he is owed something from everyone else. He has a plan for a big score that will involve the expertise of his former robber pals, an armored truck holdup that needs to come together in only five days. Not only will this break the “one heist a year” rule, but it gives little time to get a decent strategy in place.

Further complicating the circumstance is Gordon’s sister Naomi (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), just out of rehab and looking to her brother to stay clean. Also Jake (Michael Ealy) has just got engaged to Rachel (Zoe Saldana) and conveys a mistrust of the Ghost that may turn out to be intuitively true. As the clock ticks away toward the biggest heist in their careers, will the Takers be able to hold it together?

”Takers” opens everywhere August 27th. Featuring T.I., Matt Dillon, Hayden Christensen, Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Screenplay by Peter Allen, Gabriel Casseus, John Luessenhop and Avery Duff, directed by John Luessenhop. Rated “PG-13”