Takers Information

Takers (formerly known as Bone Deep) is a 2010 American crime thriller film directed by John Luessenhop from a story and screenplay written by Luessenhop, Gabriel Casseus, Peter Allen, John Rogers, and Avery Duff. It features an ensemble cast that includes Matt Dillon, Chris Brown, Idris Elba, T.I., Jay Hernandez, Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, and Zoë Saldaña. The film was released on August 27, 2010.

The film follows a group of professional bank robbers (Michael Ealy, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen, Paul Walker, Idris Elba) who specialize in spectacular robberies, as they are pulled into one last job by a recently paroled cohort (T.I.) only to be pitted against a hard-boiled detective (Matt Dillon) and his partner (Jay Hernandez) who interrupt their heist.

Plot

Two detectives, Jack Welles (Matt Dillon) and Eddie Hatcher (Jay Hernandez), investigate a daring heist by a group of well-organized bank robbers. The crew, led by Gordon Cozier (Idris Elba), consists of John (Paul Walker), A.J. (Hayden Christensen), and brothers Jake (Michael Ealy) and Jesse (Chris Brown) Attica. The crew is without a former member, Ghost (T.I.), who was caught during a previous robbery 5 years ago. In his absence, Jake has begun a relationship with his former girlfriend Lilly (Zoe Saldana), who has accepted his proposal.

Ghost surprises the crew after getting paroled. He insists he harbors no ill feelings toward the crew for abandoning him and draws them into a heist of an armored car for a $20 million payoff. The crew tells him that they will not do the job unless there is a solid plan, and Ghost agrees. Meanwhile, Welles leads a raid on a Russian gang hideout, and finds evidence of a large heist being planned. Ghost is linked to the gangsters when his name turns up amongst the evidence at the hideout, as he had made ties with the Russian gangsters while in prison. Welles goes to find Ghost, and follows him to a meeting with Gordon, John, and Jesse, running the licence plate on Gordon's Range Rover and getting his information.

The crew meets to plan the heist, in which it is discovered that two trucks will travel together but that all the money is kept in the lead truck with the rear providing officers for back-up and perhaps providing a decoy function as well. The plan is to explode a crater-like hole on a city street causing the lead truck containing the $20 million to plummet into an underground tunnel connected to the sewer system to provide for a getaway. Ghost poses as a traffic cop to redirect all traffic save for the armored trucks, which he directs to the target point. Meanwhile, to cover themselves in case Ghost is setting them up, John (Walker) heads to the top of a nearby garage to take out Ghost with a sniper rifle in case things go sour. The armored trucks are late but moments before John shoots Ghost, they finally show up, having been detained in traffic. The trucks are directed down the street towards the planned explosion point but stop short because of a bicyclist in the road. The blast, having been perfectly timed to the time the trucks had turned the last corner, occurs too far forward because the lead driver had stopped short to avoid the bicyclist, and the ruse is up. The lead driver radios the police while armed guards pile out of the rear truck.

A gunfight ensued between the robbers in the crater and the guards on the street until John, coming down from his sniping position, commandeers the rear truck, and rams the lead truck into the crater, before driving into the crater himself. John and the other robbers pack the cash into bags and flee by heading down a variety of different tunnels with the plan of connecting into various subway lines to make their escape.

Welles and Hatcher show up on the scene and, after learning of the robber's escape through the sewer system, remembers a map of the city subway system from the Russian gang hideout, and deduces that they must be escaping through the stations marked on the map where the sewers intersect the subway. They rush to the nearest station where they find Jesse, and a chase ensues, during which Jesse (Brown) is cornered and is forced to shoot Detective Hatcher in his escape. Jesse escapes, while Welles stops to aid his partner, who dies from his wound.

Jesse reconvenes with the rest of the crew at a hotel room and admits to the shooting of Hatcher and this almost results in a confrontation between Jesse and Gordon. It is now revealed that Ghost had previously cut a deal with the Russian gangsters to kill his former crewmates in exchange for half of the heist's take. Ghost gives the Russians the hotel room number, then escapes out the bathroom window, just before the Russians storm the room and attempt to kill the crew. A.J. dies in the ensuing firefight, but the rest of the crew is able to kill the Russians and flee the building before the police arrive. Jake and Jesse return home where, to his horror, Jake finds Lilly's lifeless body. The police surround their home and shoot the two when they make a suicide charge outside.

Gordon and John separate to make their escape but realize Ghost intends to take all of their money, which is being held by Scott (Johnathon Schaech), a well-connected fence. Ghost sneaks onto Scott's private plane and kills him, taking their laundered money in two large suitcases. Gordon and Detective Welles arrive and a three-way Mexican standoff results in which Ghost hits both Gordon and Welles. As Ghost prepares to finish off Gordon, John arrives and shoots him dead. He and an injured Gordon take the money and drive off, with Gordon's sister Naomi (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) in tow. A gravely-wounded Welles manages to call 911 for help on his cell phone.

As John and Gordon drive off, John asks Gordon "Are we good?" and Gordon replies by saying "All signs point to it." (a reoccurring dialogue between the two characters, usually used before a job). The film ends without revealing whether either Gordon or Welles survive their injuries.

Cast

• Matt Dillon as Jack Welles
• Paul Walker as John Rahway
• Idris Elba as Gordon Thomas "G" Cozier (credited as "Gordon Jennings")
• Jay Hernandez as Eddie "Hatch" Hatcher
• Michael Ealy as Jake Attica
• Clifford "T.I." Harris as Delonte "Ghost" Rivers
• Chris Brown as Jesse Attica
• Hayden Christensen as A.J.
• Steve Harris as Lt. Carver
• Johnathan Schaech as Scott
• Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Naomi Cozier
• Gaius Charles as Max
• Gideon Emery as Sergei
• Zulay Henao as Monica Hatcher
• Glynn Turman as Chief Detective Duncan
• Nick Turturro as Franco Dalia
• Zoe Saldana as Lilly
• Isa Briones as Sunday Welles
• Andrei Runtso as Constantine Symanski
• Vladimir Tevlovski as Ethan Symanski
• Harrison Miller as Eddie Hatcher, Jr.
• Andrew Fiscella as Security Chief
• Gino Anthony Pesi as Paulie, Jr.

Critical reception

Takers received negative reviews from critics, garnering a 27%, or 4.5/10 rating, on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus being "Takers boasts some gripping set pieces and keeps things moving quickly, but its two-dimensional characters, clichéd script, and brazenly derivative plot make it hard to recommend." Yahoo Movies critics gave the movie an average C grade saying, "Takers is almost a good little heist movie." Author Stephen King, in his end of the year Entertainment Weekly column, listed it at #5 of his best films of 2010. He says that "the climax does strain credulity, but the characters feel real & the armored-car heist is the best action sequence in 2010" (EW 12/3/10 page 26).

Box office

The film was number one at the box office during its opening weekend, making $20,512,304. Takers made its US debut on approximately 2,600 screens at 2,206 locations. According to Box Office Mojo, "The heist thriller tripled the start of Armored, and it came in only a bit behind last summer's higher-profile The Taking of Pelham 123. Its initial attendance was also nearly 50 percent greater than similar titles like Dead Presidents, and Street Kings." Takers was made available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on January 18, 2011.

Prequel

According to humormillmag.com, Screen Gems is planning on producing a prequel of how the crew came together as well as how T.I.'s character would end up in jail, leading to the events of the original film.

Awards & Nominations

BET Awards

• 2011: Win " Best Actor " Idris Elba (also for Luther)
• 2011: Nomination " Best Actor " Chris Brown
• 2011: Nomination " Best Movie

Black Reel Awards

• 2011: Nomination " Best Ensemble
• 2011: Nomination " Best Screenplay, Adapted or Original

California on Location Awards

• 2011: Win " Location Team of the Year - Features

NAACP Image Awards

• 2011: Nomination " Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture " Idris Elba