This sullen dramatic thriller is introspective to the point of being navel-gazing. And its up-to-interpretation form of 'conclusion' is fairly pretentious.
Comment
09/12/08
Take (2008)
44
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:27
Fresh:12
Rotten:15
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: A story of redemption held together with flashbacks, Take has moments of emotional intensity, but is ultimately undone by preachiness.
Synopsis: Take occurs over two days – one day in the present and one day in the past. In the present, Ana drives through the desert to witness the execution of the man who has dominated her life for the... [More]
Starring: Minnie Driver, Jeremy Renner, Bobby Coleman, David Denman
Director: Charles Oliver
Reviews for Take
It's close but no cigar for first time writer/director Charles Oliver as he bashes his unfortunate audience with a preachy and one-dimensional exposition of revenge wearing restoration clothing.
08/18/08
A dreadfully misguided movie whose story of redemption is utterly irredeemable.
08/15/08
Clean but adult-themed movie that takes an intense look at extreme forgiveness and restorative justice.
08/13/08
The talky redemption element, however, ultimately feels artificially tacked on.
08/13/08
Top CriticThis is an uneven directorial debut -- but not an unaccomplished one. Oliver is a name to look out for -- it would be great to see what would happen if he worked with someone else's script.
08/13/08
Stylistically as well as thematically complex.
08/13/08
Oliver's film manages to grapple with some knotty questions about justice, even if it is not nearly as bold or ironic as Lee Chang-dong's "Secret Sunshine"
08/13/08
Take is too enamored of its time-shifting gimmick and cheap suspense to ultimately have much impact.
07/25/08
Top CriticCharles Oliver's directing debut, Take, unfolds in sun-baked Southwestern locations, but it's a dreary affair all the same.
07/25/08
This melodrama about capital punishment has no shades of gray, only beige.
07/24/08
Resides in the same lives-intersect-through-tragedy wheelhouse as 21 Grams and Monster's Ball, without those films' romantic underpinnings or powerhouse performances.
07/24/08
Take suffers from story overload, which is distracting.
07/24/08
Obscured by ugly, dark photography, a jumbled script, mumbled performances, and clueless direction that make it impossible to see or hear a lot of what’s going on even if you cared, the result is a film of monumental incompetence.
07/23/08
A frantic mother and a desperate criminal cross paths with devastating results in first-time writer and director Charles Oliver's emotionally charged drama.
07/18/08
Dramatically, however, Take consistently works, and, with such a story, that's an amazing thing.
07/18/08
A woefully earnest indie about a crime and its aftermath.
07/18/08
It's like a full-length public service announcement.
07/18/08
If there is anything the cinema needed less than another angst-ridden, cross-cutting tragedy about crime, fate, memory and redemption, it�s the kind shot in an ugly monochromatic palette like Take.
07/18/08
Top CriticAs a formal exercise in pent-up and unleashed emotion, Take is intense and difficult to watch.
07/17/08
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