Film Critique on the Movie Takers - Essay Example

?Running head: Film Critique on the Movie “Takers” and number submitted Film analysis involves an evaluation of the mise-en-scene, the cinematography, sound and the style used by film makers in editing process. There are different ways of analyzing or critiquing a film, which includes shot by shot analysis for few clips or scenes or a more comprehensive analysis of big trailers (Dudley, 1984). This paper gives a detailed critique of movie Takers, director by John Luessenhop and released on August 27, 2010. Takers is a film released in August 27, 2010, which details crime life today (Takers, 2010). It is directed by John Luessenhop and is adopted from a story and screenplay written by Luessenhop, Gabriel Casseus, Peter Allen, John Rogers, and Avery Duff (Dudley, 1984). The film is a narrative that follows up a gang of bank robbers who carry out spectacular robberies. One of their former crew member forces them into an elaborate heist, but the inside ring members contact is far from being trustworthy. In their grilled occupation, they have one job to accomplish, which seems to be more rewarding than any other. However, this turns out to be a death trap when they are pulled into this last mission by their recently paroled cohort T. I, but unfortunately they are encountered by a hardened detective (matt Dillon) and his counterpart Jay Hernandez (Matt, 2010). The detective wont rest until he gets the thieves and brings them to justice, and through out the film, his preparation brings a mix of good and bad as the viewer remains with blurred opinion on the two sides. Tanker is a film whose plot is linear, starting at a point where there is one member who is not with them. The member is Ghost (T.I), who was arrested and jailed in a previous robbery five years ago. Ghost is released, and he plots for a mission on their behalf. He persuades his gang members to undertake this mission, which is a $20 million dollar project, but they are intercepted by detectives (Scott, 2010). The mission fails, and the gang is defeated with Ghost being the last member to be gunned by detectives Welles and Gordon. As the movie ends, we are left to wonder whether Gordon or Welles survives the injuries they sustained in the gun ensue. There are many conflicts in this movie starting with the first created when Jesse meets with the rest of the crew at a hotel where they discuss the shooting of Detective Hatcher. During this meeting, Russian gangsters storm the meeting and try to shoot everyone presents apart from Ghost. This is a conflict between characters where it turns out that ghost had decided to double cross his friends and cut a deal with the gangsters to kill the whole crew for the exchange of $10 million dollars (Scott, 2010). The formerly cold, but well calculated conflict between Ghost and his friends includes the Russian gangster and Ghost’s colleagues. This creates a conflict, but it is resolved when Jake kills the Russian. The second conflict is created when Jake and Jesse go home, and find that jakes girlfriend Lilly had been murdered and immediately they realize that police surrounded them. This is the last conflict where Ghost is out to double cross them and escape with the stolen money, and they embark on two missions: to rescue their money from their lead gangster Ghost and to escape the police attacks (Matt, 2010). This being the last hour and the highest point in the film, the police detectives are well prepared to resolve every other conflict by terminating the gang ring and they succeeded. The main conflict is resolved when all members of the gang are killed and the detectives get hold of the stolen money. The two detectives in the film are symbolic of the forces of justice, which inhere in a society where crime is rife. The fact that they are only two out of the whole police force in the country symbolizes the mighty power of justice and good against big evil. Secondly, there is some ironic twists in the story when Ghost, the leader of the gang turns out to betray them by double crossing their plan. It is also ironical that the heist mission, which promised a lot in terms of money, also promised and actually costed the lives of all the gang members. The film addresses a universal truth in the world of robbery where robbers plan to double cross their friends whenever they succeed in a lucrative mission (Stam, 2000). This is seen when Ghost plans to double cross his friends by hiring a Russian gang to kill them all so that he could take all the money they stole. This brings about a theme of betrayal, which is rife not only in the world of crime, but in the other realms of life. The other universal truth found in the movie is that crime will never triumph over justice or simply the evil will never put off the good. This is seen in the two conflicts at the end where, Ghost’s mission to double cross his gang members fail and at last the whole gang is defeated and killed by the police detectives. Takers is a film about robbery, and is acted by Michael early, Christopher Brown, Hayden Christensen, Paul Walker and Indris Elba as robbers. They are also joined by T.I Harris who acts as Ghost and on the other side we have Matt Dillon as Jack Welles, Idris Elba as detective Gordon and Glynn Turman as chief detective among others (Stam, 2000). All these actors are in form of star actors as well see all of them trying their best to achieve their goal. Among the robbery gang, Ghost first poses as a star character, but when he plans to betray the gang, Jake turns out to be the star when he managed to kill the Russian robbers hired by Ghost. Ultimately, we see the two detectives lead by detective Gordon all being led in a mission where it turns out detective Gordon is the starring actor in the overall film. What type of acting is present? (Stylized, realism, method acting, stage acting vs. film acting) The actors in the film do their best to fit in the places of their characters except for some places where T.I Harris was not very apt in his impersonation of Ghost (Stam, 2000). This character was supposed to be strong bold and articulate in his missions of both betrayal and supervising crime missions. However, sometimes Harris over exaggerated all his lines, and this was made worse by his British accent. A calculating character like that of ghost was not done justice unlike that of Gordon Thomas, which was done excellently by Elba Idris (Stam, 2000). It is clear from the beginning that most of the actor’s performance was hard to direct although he succeeded to make strong the starring characters like Gordon and Jakes. The robbers and their missions of linear crimes was so predictive that at last something was in the offing against them. From the beginning, it was clear that detective Gordon was on the offensive, and all his acting and decisions was oscillating on the issue of how he could bring the criminals on the spot. The mise en scene in this film includes the set design, which is achieved by the props, mostly guns and pistols, and this is used to prepare the viewer for the gun exchanges and crime scenes along the film. Much of this is seen when the gangs, led by Ghost are preparing to carry out their mission and they are seen loading their guns and pistols. The other element is lighting, which gives the viewer a perception of characters. For instance, when the Russian gangs are storming a hotel where Ghost and his friend are, the lighting plays a key role in preparing the viewer for fierce shooting exchanges (Scott, 2010). The film is strewn with intensified colors, which signify crime scenes, fear and unpredictability in the criminal’s life as well as safety of whoever is close to them. Space is also explored as we see the camera utilizing different shots to bring emphasis on particular places, characters and objects. The shots are also used to give the viewer a relationship between he characters. For example, when Ghost was preparing to kill Gordon and John, and we see the camera zooming in John after he shot Ghost and saved Gordon and Welles. Most of the story and mood of this film is told throughout the costumes that detectives and the robbers wear (Matt, 2010). The classy black suits by both detectives and robbers at times create a distinction between these characters. For instance there is A.J a robber who must wear his signature hat whenever he goes. In most cases, it is the camera angles uses and shots that tell the story as it captures the action in the film (Matt, 2010). Sometimes combining slow motion to have the viewers get the full glimpse and to emphasize a scene action. By the use of camera, the director was able to put a distinction between characters especially the cowards and the bold ones, the evil and the good ones. The moods of different characters are emphasized at different times by the shots and the angles at which the camera puts them. Like many action films, the shots used in the Takers creates the scenes since there is less story telling and more action especially in the last quarter of the film. The film camera editor relied on medium close up, close up and extreme close ups more than any other shots to tell the story. The film utilizes a number of transitions including the cut, fade, wipe and some few instances of dissolve. The use of these transitions sometimes created a discontinuity in the film though sometimes without affecting the storyline (Matt, 2010). However, some discontinuity is created for example the viewer wonders what had happened to Lilly who was found killed by jakes and Jesse. This is a kind of editing, which implies that some action that is not seen happened. This is also the case when we realize that ghost had met somewhere with Russian gang and arranged for the killing of his colleagues. The Takers film has a mixture of fast, slow and medium motions, which are all mixed especially at the time of action. The movie is full of sound affects especially the gun shots and music at different scenes. During the shooting sprees, there are gunshot sound effects mixed with some beats especially when there is pursuing or suspense is created when a character is trying to approach an enemy. When Jake was shooting the Russian gangs, there were times when there was a moment of silent and beats are heard, which are used to create suspense as the viewer ponders what next (Dudley, 1984). When the atmosphere is calm and no danger is impending, as at times when Jake and Lilly are in the house sharing some romance, some slow romantic music plays. Although the action in this movie is not elaborately perfect, the slow motion John Woo style shoot outs is a perfect work by the director. The sequence of the movie looks convincing and practical as we see the gun shots, the car crashes and solid fight scenes, which are exceptionally directed. The director attempt to convince the viewer that bank can afford slick suits, expensive booze, and they live freely away from the spoils of their criminal deeds (Scott, 2010). Unlike his former heist films, this contract affords the Takers a new feel although the story is a bit muddled and the finishing is flat. In the first part of the film, there is some display of restraints and the characters are shot in their low counts, which brings some variations in the physical laws and social realities because there is less socialization (Bill, 1991; Stam, 2000). However, as the movie goes on, the director and other film makers seems to realize this and dissolve this psychological complexity and introduces a thrilling scenes of serial double crosses, chase and gun fires. This way the director succeeds in setting the film going to the end where the major conflicts are resolved. The movie is an action movie with heist plot riddled with complications here and there. The Takers serves as an entertainment and as a staging of a storyline with life lessons. The presence of well dressed criminals first takes away our minds and in some instances, we may be jealous of that kind of life. However, crime does pay, and they cannot get away with the blood in their hands. In a sociological theory, the issue of family as an institution is put on spot as characters prefer their job over their family (Bill, 1991). The film features characters like Welles who neglects his beloved daughter for his job while Hatcher has a sick child, but this does not prevent him from carrying out his missions. These two acts make viewers to reflect on the priorities in society because they are based on family institution’s complications. Reference List Bill, N. (1991). Representing Reality. Issues and Concepts in Documentary, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Dudley, A. (1984). Concepts in Film Theory, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Matt, J. (2010). Takers Movie Review. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://www.thecinemasource.com/blog/movies/takers-2/ Scott, A. O. (2010). Taking a Long, Cool Look at Both Sides of the Law. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/movies/27takers.html?_r=1 Stam, R. (2000). Film Theory: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Read More