Directed by Louis Leterrier, The Takedown attempts at paying homage to 80s classics like Lethal Weapon but turns out to be a lot less interesting than it thinks itself to be!
A French follow-up to the 2012 French-produced buddy-cop action-comedy, On the Other Side of the Tracks, The Takedown feels like the perfect fit for mediocre television given the half-baked storyline, unbelievably naive protagonists, and a rather poor attempt at satire in this genre!
Cast - Omar Sy plays Diakité Ousmane, a self-described 'likable black guy' and Chief of Police. Laurent Lafitte is seen as Francois Monge, a condescending misogynist and police officer.
Storyline - Two former partners, Diakité Ousmane and Francois Monge are reunited in Paris to solve a murder in a French country with the help of a 'no-nonsense but I'll still tolerate some crap' local police officer, Alice, whom both of them show interest in. Along the way, the two of them bicker, get closure about their past, meet a racist mayor, get into multiple car chases, and stir up a hornet's nest by walking into what only looks like a white supremacist terrorism pep talk!
Watch the trailer here!
What I didn't quite like - This movie touches upon racism, the dangers of unchecked xenophobia, right-wing politics, white supremacy, and police brutality but fails to delve deeper into any of these socio-political issues. Scenes where the two male cops are repulsed by the idea of sharing a bed for a night, or when someone insinuates that they might be lovers mildly comes across like homo panic! The character graphs are inconsistent and one-dimensional throughout The Takedown! Hackneyed dialogues throughout the two hours don't help either! Action sequences are poorly conceptualized and it's hard to understand what's so entertaining about them!
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