They'll take your money and run.By John DeSando, "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
If there were an "absurdist heist" Oscar, then Takers would take. It is a pit of clich?s: the weak link, meddling family members, troubled cops, and love triangle. Top it all off with a camera as jerky as the San Fran earthquake, and you have one failed caper.
Five very dapper gents, with appropriately mixed races, plan a very big heist involving armored cars and underground mechanics. The trouble is, these notoriously meticulous thieves are pressed to pull off the job in five days. Not good for careful planners.
Of the things that go wrong, the only one I buy is the late arrival of a target because I've been in Los Angeles traffic, and not even a moving bank could make that congestion go away. Regardless, Detective Jack Welles (Matt Dillon) will sacrifice even his relationship with his daughter to track down these miscreants.
Knowing thespian-challneged Hayden Christensen is a star of this film, and you dislike nervous MTV camera work, then you have an idea what a crime the film really is. However Dillon is a treat to watch?he has this world-weary cop down pat.
Takers is not Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956), where another five men plot a heist. The only taking here is your ticket money.
John DeSando co-hosts It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee for WCBE 90.5. The shows can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com