Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

It is a performances centric movie

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I watched the four episodes of this mini-series in one go. That's how good it is. Once you're in the story you want to know what's coming. All actors did a great job I thought, but the best actor had to be Tom Hardy playing Freddie Jackson. Freddie Jackson, just released from prison, immediately picks up his criminal career, only thinking about his interests. He quickly becomes a very selfish and arrogant character that you almost hate immediately. And Tom Hardy plays this role perfectly. A brilliant performance if you ask me. The story itself is a gangster story with a lot of drama going on. You get sucked into the story and that's a good thing. For a short television series you can't get much better then The Take.

This is not a show about crime or the "mafia", it is a story about two families and especially two sisters who live with some criminals and have to cope with it. There is not much happening on the crime-side of the story and the title is absolutely misleading and wrong. It is no thriller, it is a family-drama about bad, stupid, sad and helpless people. And it gets really tiresome after a while, because Tom Hardy plays a major idiot-bad-ass and you know from the very first scenes that this guy will achieve nothing and ruin everything. And then you can watch the decline of two families ... Yes, the performances are all great. Great and depressing, because there is nothing in that drama that will lighten your mood or entertain you in a friendly way. And it is absolutely predictable, except for the very end, that contained a small surprise. Don't get me wrong: The series is not bad at all, no, but the label is wrong and I expected something else. I did not plan to see crying and desperate women who are doomed by a psycho played by Hardy. This is what comes out when women write about the "mafia". Sorry, but that's the sad truth.

This show is more than OK, but it's impossible to take your eyes off Tom Hardy. He becomes Freddie so much that he becomes unattractive. That seems an impossibility in itself, but it's not the first time Tom Hardy has made me disgusted in his character. I had to constantly remind myself I was watching Tom Hardy, the actor, during Bronson and Warrior. He completely transforms. I would hate to act alongside the guy. He truly is a one-in-a-million that comes along once in a lifetime. My parents had Brando. Hollywood is being flooded by a tsunami of English talent, and Tom Hardy is surfing it naked.

After watching the RED RIDING trilogy I thought I'd invest some time in British crime serial dramas. THE TAKE turned out to be a total waste of time. The beginning is interesting enough, though the viewer feels suspicious he/she has seen such before (Indeed, the bad boy out of prison routine is a tired route that should be RE-tired.). THE TAKE immediately begins to dissolve. There are almost no new characters that we didn't meet in the first 15 minutes. The criminal events are few and a "heist" in the first episode is ill-introduced and poorly presented. A substantial portion of time, possibly a full third, is the pity-us-poor-women-in-a-man's-world which has no intrigue or interest whatsoever. Wedding and party scenes are padded with time and adorned with bad background music. The only item that MIGHT redeem is our lead character, who quickly proves psychotic though more obnoxious than interesting. Brian Cox cannot save the day. THE TAKE simply takes your precious time and squarely qualifies as junk.