a5c7b9f00b A young pickpocket and an unruly CIA agent team up on an anti-terrorist mission in France. Michael Mason, a pickpocket living in Paris, steals a bag with a teddy bear in it. Not realizing the toy contains a timed bomb, he tosses it aside on a busy street. A few seconds later it explodes, killing four people. CCTV footage reveals Mason&#39;s face and the French police tag hima terrorist threat. The explosion, although botched, was set up by a select group of the French Interior Ministrya decoy so they can make a half billion dollar digital transfer from a bank (closed on French National Day) – hence the title Bastille Day. In a separate CIA investigation the unruly agent Sean Briar discovers the real story behind Mason&#39;s &quot;terrorist attack&quot;. The two men, on different sides of the law, collaborate to bring the corrupt members of the Ministry down. Why did I like his film?.. because it&#39;s a no-nonsense action movie, good characters, well-acted with a sensible plot and script. It doesn&#39;t waste its or my time with silly globe-trotting locations, implausible Aston Martins, costume changes, larger than life villains or impossibly glamorous love-interests.<br/><br/>You get what you pay for and, without all the pretentious crap, you actually get more of what you are paying for.<br/><br/>A number of reviewers have lamented the lack of budget but if that means we get a tense claustrophobic thriller based in one city instead of Bond tearing up one city before impossibly evading all law enforcement to arrive immediately in another city with an entirely new wardrobe and armoury to tear that one up too then hooray for small budgets. Think of every way the last three Bond films have annoyed you with their ludicrous locations, grandiloquent set pieces, irritating in-jokes, preposterous gadgets, pompous (and insultingly inconsistent) self-references, contrived plots and ego-centric main character without whom it would seem a lot more people would stay alive. Well this film doesn&#39;t; it just gets on with plot and character and action keeping everything tight and exciting.<br/><br/>Idris Elba is excellent if a little terrifying using his sheer size and presence to great effect. Richard Madden also plays well against his Rob Stark typea weak and frightened character, not the instant hero you get in so many movies. Other characters are good too including the wonderful Thierry Godard from Spiral.<br/><br/>Yes the budget is lower than a blockbuster Bond film and the film is the better for it. It&#39;s much more in the style of the early Bourne or Taken movies. The rooftop chase is far more realistic than any Bond film with people slipping and sliding about dangerously, knocking over chimney pots and generally looking rather scared rather thanthough this is something they have trained for for months. I&#39;m quite sure real CIA agents actually spend most of their time in unglamourous locations, in unglamourous cars and this film is the more realistic for showing it that way.<br/><br/>If you want to see a good tight realistic (so farit goes obviously) thriller go and see this film and give it the support it deserves. If you like pretty shiny things and shots of holiday destinations and don&#39;t care about why a secret agent tasked with the one job of keeping the head of the secret service alive would fail to do just that by playing Home Alone in Scotland instead of just placing one call for backup, then go see a Bond film instead.<br/><br/>Elba would be wasted in a Bond film but he was excellent in this well made thriller that is better than a Bond film any day of the week. As faraction movies go, this one is rather average. Even for an Euroflick it&#39;s only average, unfortunately. Considering the cast, I would have expected a bit more.<br/><br/>Let&#39;s see what we have: The story is slightly far fetched, and considering the day and age, a bit &#39;frumpy&#39;. A SWAT team orchestrates a false-flag bomb plot to distract the city of Paris in order to steal some money. The entire setup goes awry when a pickpocket steals the bomb. Briar, a disgruntled and somewhat grumpy CIA operative (with the obligatory heart of gold) saves the day by uncovering the plot that reaches up to the Minister of Interior. <br/><br/>Unfortunately the movie looses itself in some inexplicable plot holes. First of all, the amount of money the SWAT team(under the protection of the MoI) wants to grab amounts only to 500 mil . Really? The European Central Bank alone pumped 1140 billions!!! into the system. So at least they could have transferred some billions of that cyber-money. 500 mil are just peanuts these days, considering the involvement of such high-ups.<br/><br/>Then there is the good CIA, that has secret interrogation rooms in Paris, and which threatens the pickpocket with a non-marked flight that would bring him to some black site. They also withhold information from the French law enforcement and, like they do, crack the case on foreign soil w/o any consequences. Good grief, we know the CIA is almighty and does what it wants, but there is no need to play it down and pretend that it&#39;s okay what they do,long they &#39;get their guy&#39;. <br/><br/>And there is the thing with the Minister himself. Who on God&#39;s green earth does his dirty work himself, when he&#39;s the -ing Minister? But this is a plot element used by quite a few writers.<br/><br/>As farthriller this does not add up. For an action flick it&#39;s tolerable.<br/><br/>Let&#39;s check the technical side, which has a bit more to offer. The stunts are rather okay, some parts a really well done. Kudos to Mr. Elba (and his stuntman)! Filming is for the most part good, directing goes okay. One sour grape is the overuse of that horrid shaky camera in some pursuit scenes - I really hate those. There is such a thingsteady cam and image stabilisation, right? Editing could be a bit more refined,wellthe sound mixing. I presume the director&#39;s short resume might be a factor. <br/><br/>Lighting and sets go totally okay. There are only a few scenes that look a bit &#39;cheap&#39;. 2nd unit maybe? <br/><br/>Acting is somewhat fair. I never really expect much from action flicks, so… <br/><br/>All in all an almost decent action flick. Unfortunately they tried too hard to copy American action movies. Considering that Eurocinema, (especially the French and British movies) has their own style and flair. A bit more Euro-charm would have served the movie well. Not the best movie of the year, but not the worst either. For a film so interested in the public's malleability, The Take isn't particularly good at controlling its own audience.
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376 weeks ago