‘The Take’ (AKA ‘Bastille Day’) Is A Throwback To The Action Of The Eighties | Film Review

I really do love a good action movie.  Who doesn’t?  Okay, so there are a few of you out there who aren’t that keen on them, but that’s cool.  I grew up in – arguably – the age of the greatest.  My younger years saw me trundling off to the local theatre to see such classics as “Die Hard”, “Lethal Weapon”, “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Big Trouble in Little China”, and a whole slew of others, most of which starred either Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Chuck Norris.  Those were certainly the glory days for the avid action fan.

So, how about these days?  To be honest, I don’t think we’ll ever see a time like the eighties again, but I certainly don’t think we are at a loss for great beat ‘em ups, shoot ‘em ups, and/or blow ‘em ups.  Since the beginning of the new millennium, we’ve had the likes of the “Bourne” movies, “Mad Max: Fury Road”, “Man on Fire”, “Taken”, and a whole lot of superhero outings to scratch that thirst-for-action itch.  While they are certainly great, I wouldn’t call them the greatest (except for “Mad Max: Fury Road”, which was absolutely awesome.  That shouldn’t come as a surprise since it is a continuation of an 80s masterpiece).

One thing I am sure about when it comes to the modern day action movie is that there are a lot more disappointments than before.  Whereas in the past the action centered around the characters,  these days the characters are often lost amidst the action as studios and filmmakers strive for big screen, computer generated, off-the-charts spectacle.  It’s hard to focus on a hero/heroine and his/her derring-dos when there’s an entire city collapsing around them amidst beautifully rendered smoke and flames.  It sure looks pretty, but it makes me long for the days when John McClain, Martin Riggs, and Indiana Jones were what we focussed on, not London toppling over into the Thames.

Which brings us to “The Take” (or “Bastille Day” if you live outside the USA).  Does this latest addition to the genre, from writer/director James Watkins (“The Woman in Black”, “Eden Lake”), go for the big and catastrophically beautiful, or does it bring things down to the streets where we can actually see and care for what’s going on?  

Our story here centers on CIA agent Sean Briar (Idris Elba), a truly morose individual who is just trudging through another in a long line of not particularly good days.  He is the epitome of a man whose life is his job, and it is definitely not a happy one.  When a bomb goes off in Paris killing four people, Briar hits the streets in pursuit of the main suspect, American pickpocket Michael Mason (Richard Madden) who was caught on camera placing the bomb.  Charged with cleaning up the mess as soon as possible so as to hide the fact that the CIA is snooping around on foreign soil, complications arise when Briar discovers that Mason wasn’t actually the bomber – he had snatched the bag containing the explosives from the real bomber (Charlotte Le Bon) and discarded it without knowing what was hidden inside – and the real culprits behind the attack come calling.  With terrorist threats hanging over them, and citizens taking to the streets in protests centered around the nation’s celebrations for Bastille Day, Briar and Mason are forced to team up and get to the bottom of what’s really going on.  And what is that exactly?  Well, it may or may not be what you think.

Now, I’m not going to run up to the roof and start proclaiming “The Take” to be the second coming of the Action Movie Genre, but I gotta say this – I had a damn good time with this movie.  This is the kind of action flick that just makes me want to hit somebody (in the good way, of course).  At just a shade over ninety minutes, the action never lags, and what lovely action it is.  “The Take” is definitely not a movie that has landmarks and office buildings falling down left right and center.  The action scenes are small scale, often playing out in close quarters.  Hell, one of the best dustups actually takes place in the back of a police mini-van.  But what the movie lacks in scale, it more than makes up for with great fight choreography that is often brutal and real in its execution.  There’s no fancy martial arts or superhuman shenanigans here.  The pummeling these guys give and take is down, dirty, and respects the laws of physics.  The gunplay is aplenty, but again nothing that ventures into the unbelievable or laughingly preposterous.  There are several chase scenes and, I must say, one of the highlights here was a foot chase across the Paris rooftops.  There were moments during that pursuit where I was actually feeling nauseous (I’m not good with heights).  Stellar camerawork there, and it certainly conveyed a convincing sense of danger.  I was wholly expecting either one of those guys to make like a pigeon carrying a kettlebell at any moment.

And the movie had brains.  Whether it’s Briar hunting for clues, or Mason putting his exceptional pickpocketing skills to use for the cause, the filmmakers took the time to do things a bit more creatively rather than rely on timeworn tropes such as beating or bribing needed information out of low level creeps.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in a scene where Mason has to enter a bar full of toughs in search of an address.  What follows is tense, funny, and so, so satisfying to watch.  If they had gone with Briar just storming in and clobbering the hell out of everyone – which I’m sure would have had some entertainment value – it would have had nowhere near the same impact.  Good job.

Since we’re talking about Briar and Mason, let’s take some time to talk about the actors who are playing them.  If well-orchestrated action is the key to this kind of movie, then casting is a close second.  The best action movies have great leads who make the roles their own.  That’s why names such as Willis, Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Russell, and Gibson carry such weight in the genre.  They are damn good at what they do, even if one or two of them have faltered in their later years.  Not just good, but believable.

Idris Elba more than fits this bill.  This man is not just a fine actor, he’s a force of nature.  An imposing figure who is usually sullen, mean-spirited, and dour, Sean Briar moves through this movie like a giant battering ram with fists and knees.  He kicks down quite a few doors, and makes a couple of new ones as well.  Once he knows what he has to do, nothing is going to stop him, except maybe the odd little old lady making her way down the stairs.  Even in those lighter moments though, we can almost see the spring coiled up inside him straining to bust loose.  Once the moment for politeness moves on….Boing!  There he goes again.  The man can be a monster, with little or no time for niceties.  Is it any wonder that when he asks a character, “Why did you run?” the answer he receives is, “Because you were chasing me.  Have you seen yourself?”  Priceless.

Elba is a master at being the strong silent type.  He conveys more with a raised eyebrow, a sideways glance, or a snort than many other actors do with a monologue.  He is a big man, and he knows how to use that physicality in a role such as this.  We see his name a lot these days on the marquees and in the trades, and there’s a good reason for that.  He has a presence that demands attention, and if his role in this is any indication, he has a great future as an action star ahead of him.

Richard Madden also deserves special mention for his portrayal of the pickpocket forced to buddy up with Elba.  In these movies, the criminal paired with the hero is often relegated to being the comic relief, but not here.  Michael Mason, in the beginning, is confident and suave when he’s doing his thing, but after the bomb shatters his life (and even a little before), he becomes scared and small.  He is terrified at where he has ended up, and spends much of the movie running, cowering, and doing his best not to get killed.  It’s only when his sticky-fingered talents come back into play that the old Mason re-emerges.  Being famous for more regal roles – Robb Stark in “Game of Thrones” and the Prince in “Cinderella” – Michael Mason is a welcome departure for Madden.  It shows his range as an actor and he is a joy to watch whenever he is on the screen.

The two of them together make a great team.  As they walk off together at the end, we are left feeling that Mason has finally found the father figure we learned he never had, and Briar has finally found someone he doesn’t want to kill, or at least beat to a pulp.  They are, in fact, a beautiful couple.  I would like to see more of them and their adventures down the road.

The rest of the cast do their jobs well.  I really liked Charlotte Le Bon as the initial bomber, and Eric Ebouaney was great as Michael’s fence.  The villains of the piece, who I won’t mention because of plot twists, were also good and never went too over-the-top.  Everyone kept their characters grounded, and the film is better for it.

There are some shortcomings.  After all, nobody’s perfect.  Some of the minor characters are a bit clichéd, especially in the CIA office (hello, pain-in-the-ass superior), a couple of the twists aren’t really that surprising, the main villain becomes very familiar towards the end, shortcuts are taken with the story to keep the pace up, and one of my personal pet peeves rears its ugly head.  And what exactly might that peeve be?  Well, as I’m sure you know, often in these kinds of movies, the man on the run usually has his photo blasted all over the internet and on TV.  Now, Richard Madden is a good-looking guy.  That alone is going to have people giving him the once over.  However, he also happens to be a man blessed with a magnificent head of hair and a neatly trimmed beard and mustache.  If I were him, the first thing I would do is grab my Bic razor and get rid of every strand of hair from my neck up.  Does he do that?  Nope.  He wanders around Paris, a wanted terrorist, looking exactly like his picture.  C’mon man!  Haven’t you ever seen “The Fugitive”?  If you’re on the run, changing your appearance is the first order of business.  Harrison Ford knew what to do, and you should too.  Sigh.  I know it’s a nitpick, but these kinds of things do bug me.  Either that or I’m really jealous of his hair.

“The Take” is certainly not in the same league as “Die Hard” or “Lethal Weapon”, but as a fun action picture, it hits the nail on the head.  It doesn’t do anything new, but what it does do, it does well.  Elba and Madden own the leads, the action has guts, the pickpocketing set-pieces are great fun, the directing is tight, the camera is steady (a lot of people do care about that), there are laughs, the story zips along, nobody (on either side of the camera) does anything stupid – except for the hair – and in the end we are left wanting more.  If you are a fan of big scale carnage, you will probably be disappointed, but if you like your action lean and mean, you will be in for a treat.