THE TAKE (2016)

Generic terrorist thriller that morphs rather amusingly into a slightly screwy caper pic. And all the better for it; just not better enough. Idris Elba (in something of a James Bond try-out) and a crew of Brits playing Americans in Paris, dash thru their paces in the streets, alleys & rooftops of Paris trying to catch groovy pickpocket Richard Madden (in a confused perf) who’s unknowingly lifted a ‘bag-with-a-bomb’ from clueless terrorist ‘mule’ Charlotte Le Bon. Suddenly, French military & Paris police are also on his tail, but it’s maverick CIA agent Elba who finds him, believes his story, then grabs Le Bon so the trio can hunt down the real bombers (and dirty cops) hoping to create street anarchy to use as cover for . . . well, can’t give it all away! It’s a pretty good set up, largely wasted thru bad acting (other than Elba) and in James Watkins by-the-numbers writing/directing. It does develop a more amiable tone as it goes along, but tosses any goodwill away with a tag ending for a never-gonna-happen buddy/buddy sequel. Titled BASTILLE DAY in most territories, Stateside distributor Universal presumably felt no one would get the reference to French Independence Day, when the main action occurs. Hence the meaningless title THE TAKE which hardly helped matters commercially: Domestic gross $50,000. Yikes!