Takers Will Not Steal Your Time By Art Byrd

I was on the phone with my dad when he mentioned seeing one of the best pictures of the year. For my dad to say a movie is the best, I have to take notice; Dad will walk out of a movie if he doesn’t like it. This is the guy who walked out on Star Wars because the robots were too loud!

The movie my dad loves is Takers, a bank heist movie. He’s right, it is good movie. But I don’t agree that it’s a great movie because of one word -- “greed.”

The movie begins with the Takers, the robbers, having pulled-off a flawless bank heist. The film stars Paul Walker (Fast and Furious) as John, Idris Elba (The Wire) as Gordon, Michael Ealy (Three Pounds) as Jake, Hayden Christensen (Star Wars) as A.J., and singer Chris Brown as Jesse. They take a news helicopter from an overzealous and stupid news reporter and her crew. A brilliant move as the Takers fly away with the money while the police think they have surrounded the bad guys in the building.

After the heist and the money spilt, the Takers are living the high life with houses, penthouse apartments, cars, motorcycles, and of course, hot women.

Then Ghost, played by rapper T.I., gets out of prison early. The Takers are shocked to see him. Ghost was part of their stealing crew, but during one of the heists he was shot, captured and sent to prison. Yet he didn’t rat the others out.

Now Ghost wants to rob an armored car carrying a lot of cash. The Takers have a rule that they do only one job a year. This job is to be done in five days.

Here is where greed steps in. Ghost gives the Takers a choice -- are you in or out. The Takers are in. Some of them have a bad feeling about the job. That bad feeling turns into bad things. Goodbye houses, cars, money and women, as the Takers will never be the same.

There were some great scenes, especially a running scene with Chris Brown. The supporting cast was excellent with Matt Dillon (Crash) playing marriage-damaged detective Jack Welles, his partner Eddie Hatcher played by Jay Hernandez ,and the amazing Zoe Saldana (Avatar) playing Rachel, Ghost’s ex and Jake’s fiancée.

A super performance was given by Marianne Jean- Baptiste (TV’s Without A Trace) as Naomi, Gordon’s drug-addicted sister.

The good thing is that Takers goes from being a bank heist film to something else, which I will not give away. If you like large on-screen action and a stylishly shot film, Takers will not steal your time.

Edited by Michele Ristich Gatts