''Take Back'' is a 2021 American action thriller film directed by

Christian Sesma Christian Sesma is an American filmmaker. He has directed such films as ''Vigilante Diaries'' (2016), '' Paydirt'' (2020), ''Take Back'' (2021) and '' Every Last One of Them'' (2021). Sesma was born and raised in the Coachella Valley. He grew u ...

and starring

Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...

James Russo James Vincent Russo (born April 23, 1953) is an American film and television actor. He has appeared in over 150 films in three decades. Early life Russo was born in New York City, New York, to an Italian father and German mother. A graduate of t ...

Michael Jai White Michael Jai White (born November 10, 1967) is an American actor, director and martial artist. He was the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, starring as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1 ...

and Gillian White. The film was released in the United States on June 18, 2021.

Plot

Zara (Gillian White) and Brian (Michael Jai White) are a couple living a quaint small-town life. A mysterious person from Zara's past arrives and kidnaps their daughter. Zara and Brian are forced to come to terms with Zara's past, and enlists the help of the sheriff (James Russo) to try and race to save their daughter's life before she vanishes into the sex trade.

Cast

as Patrick, Jack *

as Brian * Gillian White as Zara *

as Schmidt * Jessica Uberuaga as Nancy *

Chris Browning Christopher Jay Browning (born March 8, 1964) is an American television and film actor, known for film work and character roles. Career Browning began his acting career in 1987, at age 22 or 23, with a sitcom television series. Due to his drug ...

as Jerry Walker *

Nick Vallelonga Nicholas Anthony Vallelonga (born September 13, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for co-writing and producing the film '' Green Book'', for which he received two Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Pictur ...

as Demarco

Production

Principal photography wrapped in August 2020. The film was shot in the Coachella Valley, during the

covid pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

Release

Shout! Studios Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

acquired North American distribution rights to the film in February 2021. The film released theatres in the United States and to video on-demand and online retailers on June 18, 2021.

Reception

Reviews of the film were mostly negative, with a 20% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on five reviews. Most reviews focused on the slow pacing and generic setup. Phil Hoad of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' awarded the film two stars out of five and wrote, "...this smalltown revenge thriller starts off well but takes a fatally long time to gather momentum." Alan Ng of '' Film Threat'' rated the film a 6.5 out of 10 and wrote, "It’s a great film to relax at home with and enjoy a steady stream of light suspense and action… and support up-and-coming stars."

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, take_back 2021 films 2021 action thriller films American action thriller films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films