"Takers' making clean getaway in theatres

This past weekend was all about thrillers at the US box office as movie-goers helped Sony Picture's bank heist thriller "Takers" debut at number one.

According to Entertainment Weekly, "Takers" grossed a whopping $20.51 million, slightly beating out psychological thriller "The Last Exorcism" which came in second-place with $20.36 million.

Critics anticipated "The Last Exorcism" to rule the US box office last weekend. However, movie goers were clearly in a mood to see some armed menaces over screaming demons.

Interestingly, "Takers" was shown in less theaters and smaller theaters than its top competitor, "The Last Exorcism" and still managed to come out on top.

"Takers," directed by John Luessenhop, is about a notorious group of smooth criminals with a GQesque mob comprised of actors Idris Elba, Paul Walker, T.I., Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen and Michael Ealy.

The crew wittily perplexes police with their ability to pull off bank robberies perfectly by leaving no evidence behind and being able to remain low-key after a string of heists. But, like any story, there must be conflicting forces.

Unsurprisingly, the crew finds themselves interrupted by a top detective, played by Matt Dillon, when they attempt to pull off one of their biggest robbery with more money on the line than ever before. The movie is more predictable than not.

Despite the film's success, critics still accuse "Takers" of mediocrity.

The film is also being discredited for a lack of originality for having so many similarities to Michael Mann's 1995 criminal flick "Heat."

According to a Los Angeles Times review, "[the film's] downtown Los Angeles setting and world of slick bad guys and hard-core cops [causes] this hackneyed heist movie comes off like 'Heat' lite."

T.I. told MTV News the following, "Contrary to popular belief. In my heart, I felt ["Takers"] would be [number one]. It's kinda like the Obama election. Not at all as important, but you felt like it was supposed to happen...I'm not in any way trying to compare the magnitude of importance [of the presidential election] to this [box-office] situation…Thanks to everyone that supported. Critics were very quick to sign up and criticize the film. I appreciate the people for showing up and judging for themselves and tweeting and putting out the word of mouth that this really was a good film."

Fallen R&B singer, Chris Brown, whose career may finally be seeing the light of day again, took to Twitter to say, "Thanks to all the fans that made Takers #1! Every ticket counted! I love ya'll! #1 single in the country and the #1 movie in the country. My life has turned around and I couldn't be more happier."

What all of this is saying is that people will see what they want to see and not what critics hype up to be the next best film.