This should have been called ‘The Letdown’
The Takedown is a French comedy-thriller film that was released on Netflix on August 3, 2019. It is the sequel to the 2012 film On the Other Side of the Tracks and can be watched without having seen the original. ..
As the movie opens, we are introduced to two policemen who are working together. One of them is a rookie and the other is an experienced officer. They team up after a crime is committed and soon realize that they have some common interests. For example, they both enjoy making wisecracks and enjoying silly hijinks. However, the movie does not shy away from dark turns in the plot. For example, we learn that one of the victim’s friends was involved in the crime and we also see how their relationship changes as they learn about this fact.
Omar Sy stars as Ousmane Diakité, one half of the cop duo and he is joined by Laurent Lafitte as his babbling buddy François Monge. The two stars have good chemistry together, which might be why the decision was made to bring them back after their previous film. But while they have the talent needed to deliver on both the comedy and the action front, the movie lets them down with overly silly dialogue and some fairly predictable twists and turns. ..
Despite its familiar elements, “The Square” is a well-made and engaging film. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s a solidly executed crime drama that will keep you entertained from beginning to end. ..
The Letdown is a decent action movie with good directing, but the two lead actors are terrible.
Despite the cliched roles, Sy and Lafitte are both excellent actors and they do much to elevate the movie. They have a great screen presence so are fun to watch as they take down crooked villains, far-right nationalist groups, and other assorted do-badders. Leterrier clearly wanted to make a Hollywood-type action movie with a steady balance of laughs and with these actors, he almost pulled it off. But as I have already suggested, the weak script is the biggest problem here. It’s overloaded with jokes that have long since past their sell-by-date and scenarios that have been played out on screen a hundred times before.
Justin Lin has been replaced as the director of the next Fast and Furious movie. He has a skill in scenes of motoring mayhem as The Takedown proves. This scene is thrilling with a satisfying payoff. It would not look out of place in the aforementioned franchise that prides itself on high-speed action and car scenes that defy the laws of physics.
If you’re willing to suspend disbelief for a couple of hours, you might be able to overlook the movie’s weaknesses. The plot moves along relatively quickly so there isn’t a lot of time to consider how stupid it all is. Some scenes, such as one involving a go-kart chase though a supermarket, are entertaining to watch, despite making no sense at all to the greater scheme of things. So, the movie isn’t a total waste of time.
The Takedown had potential but in the end, this isn’t quite the movie it could have been. It could have been the French equivalent of Lethal Weapon but instead, it has more in common with the many low-brow American imitators of that classic buddy cop movie.
The takedown ending is a common plot device in thrillers and mystery novels. It’s a way to end a story without having the reader feel any suspense or anxiety. The takedown ending is often used to make the story more exciting and dramatic, so that the reader can’t help but read on.
