DVD Review - The Take (2016)

The alternative title of this movie is Bastille Day, yet it has nothing to do with the actual French holiday, except being a thing in the background. However, if there were ever a reason to make Idris Elba the next James Bond, it would be this movie. This is definitely the audition tape for Elba to be the future 007.

This movie isn't as intricately written as a Bond film. It doesn't have the budget for sure, so the action sequences aren't nearly as spectacular, but there are poorer equivalents that are well-shot, well-choreographed and arguably just as thrilling. Yet, the only real requirement is that Elba looks cool and kicks ass, which he does both in spades.

Idris Elba (Thor and Pacific Rim) stars as Sean Briar, a CIA operative whom not much is learned, except he's a bit reckless but stoic. He's very well trained. He can shoot and fight with the best of them. He's working in the same vein as Liam Neeson in Taken or Bruce Willis in Die Hard, or even Kiefer Sutherland in 24, except it's a little in that Bond-style of spy movie world.

Richard Madden (Game of Thrones and Cinderella) co-stars as Michael Mason, an American pickpocket in Paris who becomes an unwilling sidekick to Briar in his mission to find and stop some terrorists who want to launch an attack on Bastille Day. Much is learned about him, who he is, where he comes from and why he's doing what he's doing.

Charlotte Le Bon (The Hundred-Foot Journey and The Walk) also co-stars as Zoë, a woman who falls in between the two men. Her introduction into the movie is her being totally nude and walking through the streets of Paris. Yet, her role in this film isn't sexual at all. She's not even a damsel-in-distress. She's more the heart and eventual, emotional center.

The relationship that is the key is the bromance between Briar and Mason. It's not explicit, though I wish it were. Both men are so gorgeous and attractive that at one point the hope is the two men might hug or kiss. It's enough that they buddy-cop their way through some fun chases like across rooftops and fight scenes like one in the back of a police van. It pulls a plot out of Die Hard With a Vengeance, but it's nowhere near as clever. Yeah, it's a good energetic romp.

Elba even sings a song for the end credits. "The Road Less Travelled" by Idris Elba could easily be a Bond song to be put in line with any others.

Rated R for violence, language and some nudity.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 32 mins.