One of two: Or there is a conspiracy against this FANTASTIC movie or today people don't understand what Cinema is.
"The Take" is, at least, a 9/10 movie, guys: Very good story, very good screenplay, very good acting, crude, realistic... and containing message.
So many special effects seem to stun the masses.
I just finished watching this movie on satellite-tv, here it's 01.15 am, and I take the (electronic) pen to confirm; you just take the words out of my mouth; it's one of the best flicks I've seen this year.
Excellent acting, directing, music and story. No sliding towards exploitation, no Hollywoodesque happenings, only gritty realistic movie with normal people living through a dog-bites-man type of event.
A really good flick, with believable characters. The imdb-rating is a SHAME!
I saw it on cable last night and was really surprised to see it rated so low here. I had rated it a solid 7 myself. I thought the acting was excellent, especially Leguizamo, and (grudgingly) even Perez who played her usual can-barely-restrain-her-emotions latina character, yet again. I liked the gritty authentic feel of Boyle Heights, L.A. which was captured well (ala "Cops").
***spoiler alert***
Why did I rate it down a bit?
First problem was entirely technical, and I don't know if it was the Cable company, the sound recordist, or some idiosyncrasy of my TV, but the soundtrack/voicetrack was off. Did anyone else experience this? It was like I was watching this movie "dubbed" from another language. The actor's lips would move, but it would be out of synch with the audio.
I also had a problem with the balance and pacing, like the third act (when de la Pena becomes the hunted suspect) started way late in the movie and resolved itself too neatly. IRL, it might have resolved itself eventually anyway (like with forensics) as he 1) really wasn't an accomplice in the robbery and 2) really didn't murder his partner, Marco. But after going through so many scenes of his rehabilitation and problems adjusting to his brain injury, and his downward spiral (loss of livelihood, friends, family, becoming a suspect, drinking). The plot finally focuses on his "revenge" in the last 15 minutes, and he just neatly gets it, just like that.
I guess that would be my final point, that all this fine acting (by a great cast) and authentic scene setting ended up being part of a garden variety heist and revenge movie, when it had potential to be better/more meaningful.
So overall, not bad, not great.
It not the movie having tech issues. I have had this issue with a lot of movies & I have come to the conclusion that the digital TV that is the problem. When when went 100% digital thay should gotten the bugs out first. I Have Had everything from out of sync to freezing. We went 100% digital with major bugs in the technoligy. Call your Cable company & Ask them if they need an exteminator to fix the Bugs with the Digital TV
sharesaw this movie for the first time not too long ago on direct tv. gotta say, one of my top 25. i rated it an 8/10, but there is no rating for integrity. this movie was perfectly real, timing and casting was amazing. i understand why the movie ended the way it did, because the story really does end on that rooftop. i did not care to see the in depth resolution where the cops find out whoreallydunnit. somehow, a smart viewer knows they will...eventually. the real story was his journey to retrieve his manhood. and that was done with amazing integrity from everyone involved. well done on a shoe-string budget!
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"the whole world's on fire, isn't it?"
The One Big thing thing you have also look at is the Vote total 880. That's about 10,000 less then what it should Have, yes the rating is low. It a good movie. People don't vote like they should. I gave this movie a 10 only because to help the rating a little. It's really a 7 or an 8. If people who seen this movie & visit this web site often they should vote. This movie is close to 3 years old it should have no less than 75,000 votes. This is one of many that don't have enough votes to do justice to the rating. If You look at the top 250 they is only about 10 or 15 movies that have more than 100,000 votes & they ony about 5 with over 250,000. Their is only 2 movies that have more than 400,000 votes. "The Shawshank Redemption with the most at a little over 450,000 & "The Dark Knight" with just over 400,000 & the only reason "The Dark Knight has over 400,000 is because the Star of it died before it even hit theaters: Heath Ledger
shareThere was a major problem with this movie. The FBI thinking that John Leguizamo's character had something to do with the robbery was ridiculous. Basic forensics would have proven that he wasn't shot by the security gaurd and that he was shot at close range. And why would they suspect him before suspecting his partner who mysteriously disappeared, couldn't remember the name of the taco place they go to every friday and basically had no alibi outside of the fact that he had been beaten up. If he wasn't in on it why would the robbers not kill him, they killed everyone else, why would they leave him as a witness?
The only reason to suspect Leguizamo was that he couldn't remember much after the shooting, so maybe he was in on it got double crossed but couldn't remember but that would probably get figured out pretty quickly by trained FBI agents.
Tyrese character was stupid. He robs a cash depot then just chills in his house the whole time. When trouble comes, he goes and kills everyone that was in on it to silence them, yeah that won't get figured out pretty quickly by the FBI. There was absolutely nothing original about this movie at all and the ending was predictable.
Also Leguizamo's character had plenty of opportunities to call the cops during his route. Tyrese was a local, low-level thug not the mafia. He could have called the cops from one of the stores he went to pick up, tell them the deal, have them rush to your house to protect your family. If someone is watching the house and hears sirens coming they're not going to run inside kill your family and take off, they're just going to leave. Pretty easy.
Good point made by the poster above, the script wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. But as for the score, definitely underrated. I think the fact that its an Indie film could have something to do with it, and it didnt play in many theaters.
I'd give the film a 6.8 at least, I give it a 7 for the acting and directing; my friends thought of Leguizamo as a non-serious actor, I disagreed with them then, and after seeing this you'll realize how talented he really is. Rosie Perez also was typecast for a while and late in her career gave her best performances.
"Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground" - T. Roosevelt
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Sorry, but kept me riveted. I expected to fall asleep because i got it on VOD at 11:30 pm. Excellent movie.
Perez underplayed, which made her excellent and Leguizamo did not over play as he usually does. don't know how i let this one slip by.
"Perez underplayed, which made her excellent and Leguizamo did not over play as he usually does. don't know how i let this one slip by."
I agree, I think that's what I liked best too.
I think the camera shots were intentional.
shareYou ask this about the other guard who was in on it - "If he wasn't in on it why would the robbers not kill him, they killed everyone else, why would they leave him as a witness?"
Tyrese does order the white guy in the gang to kill him. He was too soft and beat him up instead. Tyrese then kills the white guy, Steve was his name I think, because he didn't kill the guy and was now a liability. Did you not see the whole movie?
You also say: "He could have called the cops from one of the stores he went to pick up, tell them the deal, have them rush to your house to protect your family."
Sure, just jangle up the cops with all his extra time and sure enough the LAPD is going to rush to the ghetto to check things out. That would be pretty easy if that's how it works.
This is a great movie, they try and make it realistic and then they get dinged like this!
It felt to me like someone was trying to be Michael Mann too hard. It deserves better than in the 5s, but definitely not in the 9s.
shareI thoroughly enjoyed this one. I gave it 7 stars because it's very rough around the edges in terms of production, but great acting all around especially by Perez. Great supporting characters. About the only flaw I'd put on the movie was the balance on detectives and family. You didn't get a good feeling for the
heist details.
Oh, and Rosie's cans deserved second billing!
Amy: I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
I am very torn on this movie. Liked the acting from pretty much everyone, liked how it was filmed, even liked the dialog and most scenes, but the plotting is weird. And no one panics, leaves a crime scene, then hides evidence three times. Enough dumb parts it bugged me.
Also agree with some of the balance discussions:
- Felix and his family: great. Really interesting with the hospital, brain injury, getting used to being a different person, etc.
- Felix hunting for the bad guys: Meh. Trite. Seen it 10,000 times before.
- FBI guys: Just a hint of them being humans, but not enough of it. Show us more of their actual life or drop it.
- Gangsters: Too much of a supervillain vibe, and too competent by far.