Assembled almost entirely from spare parts, the rickety heist thriller Takers might have worked with a more talented cast and tighter pacing. Instead of a mildly entertaining B-movie, though, it’s a clumsy jumble of half-formed set pieces and flat line readings, which don’t enhance the already painfully clichéd dialogue.

Idris Elba of The Wire gives pretty much the only credible performance as the leader of a sophisticated band of thieves who open the movie by flawlessly executing a bank robbery. Then, of course, they get too greedy, planning to pull one big job orchestrated by a suspicious associate (rapper Tip “T.I.” Harris) who just got out of prison. Meanwhile, a dedicated cop who doesn’t play by the rules (is there any other kind?) gets closer to uncovering their plan.

The crew of robbers is populated with some of the most wooden actors in modern cinema, including Harris, singer Chris Brown (both of whom are also producers on the film), Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen. Elba and Matt Dillon (as the detective tracking the gang) get the most screen time and the most substantial lame personal subplots, but none of the characters comes remotely close to seeming like a real person.

With its dual focus on cops and criminals, its Los Angeles setting, its choice of heists and even the locale for its climax, Takers is in many ways the poor man’s version of Michael Mann’s Heat, except it only feels like it’s three hours long. Filmed nearly two years ago, Takers clearly just avoided going straight to video. It would definitely have been more at home deep somewhere in a Redbox.