Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Takedown’ on Netflix, Louis Leterrier’s Chaotic Buddy-Cop Comedy, Starring Omar Sy and Laurent Lafitte

You can watch the entirety of Louis Leterrier’s new French-language Netflix buddy-cop action movie The Takedown without ever knowing it’s a sequel to 2012’s On the Other Side of the Tracks. I sure did. My excuses are valid: One, the first film didn’t make much of an international ripple, and played in but a handful of U.S. theaters. And two, it makes no reference whatsoever to the previous pairing of stars Omar Sy and Laurent Lafitte, playing mismatched police partners with quick wits. Imagine that: A sequel that’s wholly self-contained and stands on its own two feet and doesn’t require the viewer to carry a bunch of predigested plot points and character traits into the movie with them, which, may I remind you, is homework, people, homework. So that’s refreshing – but maybe this particular genre formula isn’t.

THE TAKEDOWN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Ousmane Diakite (Sy) and his partner are about to arrest “the most wanted man in Europe.” Thing is, that man is in front of a frothy crowd in an underground MMA ring, and has just clobbered a very large man unto unconsciousness. This does not deter Ousmane in the slightest. He jumps right in and there goes the editor, in a cut-happy frenzy, and there goes the art director, getting crazy with the yellows and greens and reds, and there goes the cinematographer, who’s lost his mind, considering all the LENS FLARE bursting across the screen. Ousmane punches and parries and arm-bars with the bad guy until you start to wonder why he isn’t a UFC champion – must be his dedication to truth and justice and all that, as a Parisian police captain, crime division. He’s so good, the PR team wants him to be the face of the force on social media and in promotional videos. That, and he’s Black, which would help the cops put a better spin on cultural relations, a fact that is not lost on Ousmane at all, not in the least.

Meanwhile, Francois Monge (Lafitte) shtoinks his therapist in his parents’ house, because he still lives with them. At this point in his career, lowly Lt. Monge is still a deputy, although he prefers the term “associate chief” despite the fact that denial of failure makes him look even more like a failure. Francois is a tool, and the fact that I write a much shorter introductory paragraph for him than Ousmane says it all about the dynamic here.

Francois happens to be boarding a commuter train when a body is found. Half of one, to be precise. The top half. The bottom half lands in Ousmane’s jurisdiction, and the circumstance forces the two cops to partner up. This allows Ousmane to be competent and Francois to inspect the cadaver’s exposed schlong (they’re examining the bottom half, although maybe that goes without saying) with a coffee stirrer. The investigation leads them to a smallish provincial town where the mayor is a white nationalist affiliated with a group of goons who stop this short of branding swastikas on their foreheads. Ousmane and Francois somehow manage to make progress through the shady underworld of drugs and guns and rabid guard dogs, despite their constant competitiveness – you know, being the one who comforts the dead man’s mother the hardest, vying for the affection of attractive local cop Alice (Izia Hegelin), etc. Of course, their slightly bungling cop work turns up a large conspiracy – I mean, do you expect movies like this to traffic in small ones? I think not.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The Takedown is retro-styled along the lines of sometimes enjoyable, sometimes drecky contrapuntal-cop junk like Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, Bad Boys, etc. I’m sure Brett Ratner is rolling in his grave.

Performance Worth Watching: Omar Sy continues to be a charismatic force no matter what silly movie he’s in. The hell with this stuff – cast him as Bond, already.

Memorable Dialogue: Cops that aren’t Francois and Ousmane bust into a room in their SWAT gear and find a poor innocent soul separating trash from recycling: “The garbage police don’t mess around!” he exclaims, possibly giving voice to movie critics forced to watch formulaic cop comedies.

Sex and Skin: Male corpse full frontal, rear female, a stripper in pasties and a thong.

Our Take: The Takedown clearly gives not a single f— about anything, occasionally for better, occasionally for worse, and discerning this disparity isn’t an easy task. There’s the tossed-off title, the wheezy premise, the generi-score musically enforcing the dictate that none of this is to be taken seriously, so don’t expect any kind of deep commentary on racial division or any of that troublesome cop stuff. No, the serious subject matter is just another setting for wiseass comedy, so the movie is just escapism, or maybe not. Who can tell?

Leterrier – who recently landed the biggest gig of his career, replacing Justin Lin as director of Fast X – draws heavily from the Michael Bay school of hyperfrantic editing, LENS FLARE bombardment and rampant tastelessness, but The Takedown differs from crud like Transformers and 6 Underground by fine-tuning its tone to something resembling satire. Does this save the picture? Who the hell knows. When Leterrier lets rip and stages a lengthy action-chase with go karts tearing through a funcenter or has our protagonists running lengthwise through a bowling alley, jumping over rock ‘n’ bowled balls, the movie is stupid, unhinged fun. Sy and Lafitte’s consistent bickering works in fits and starts, but the screenplay’s infantile comedy – gay jokes, ogling women in the shower – gives this able and willing duo a lot of moldy peaches to munch on. Bottom line: Chaos reigns.

Our Call: SKIP IT. The Takedown moves quickly and has its inspired moments, but that’s not enough to eclipse its tired shtick.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.