‘Takers’ steals from ‘Heat’ and ‘The Italian Job’

In the heist thriller "Takers," a bank robber praises himself and his colleagues by saying "we see what we want and we take it."

It's getting harder to tell the bankers from the robbers these days, isn't it? Anyway, it's a creed endorsed by the "Takers" creative team, who saw "Heat" and "The Italian Job" and took them - the stories, the shots, the music.

Just about everything but the cast, so instead of grizzled veteran tough guys, you have a gang that includes Paul Walker, Chris Brown, Michael Ealy, and, I regret to say, Hayden Christensen.

"Takers" shamelessly describes itself as "Heat" for a new generation, but I wonder how Robert De Niro, Danny Trejo and Dennis Haysbert would feel about taking Christensen, with his Justin Timberlake hat, into their midst. (He'd have lasted about as long as Waingro.)

Still, given its Us Magazine cast and habit of slavish imitation, "Takers" is a punchy and surprisingly un-awful actioner, one that tweaks the Michael Mann original often enough to keep you involved.

"Takers" opens briskly with Walker and company (including Idris Elba) robbing a bank and toasting their success until a disgruntled former member (Tip "T.I." Harris), just released from jail, shows up to demand back pay and to insist on planning the next job.

Meanwhile, an off-the-rails L.A. cop (Matt Dillon) and his uneasy protege (Jay Hernandez) start to track the gang, closing in as the criminals close in on the next ambitious heist.

As in "Heat," the movie takes side trips to examine the distressed personal problems of the men on both sides of the law - with girlfriends (another Zoe Saldana sighting), families, children, drugs, management, etc.

"Takers" is less prone to digression, however, and certainly never slows down to attempt the sort of cool, moody, gorgeous wide-screen visual ode to Los Angeles that Mann achieved in "Heat."

Director John Luessenhop attempts something like the Mann style, particularly during the action scenes, but can't match his elegance, and so patches the holes with some pretty desperate editing.

And Luessenhop has other styles to imitate - he gives a nod to Pierre Morel in a chase scene that has Chris Brown (or his stunt double) suddenly turning into a parkour artist.

Luessenhop never seems to run out of references, and the movie never runs out of twists, saving a few of them for its laudably terse ending.