The Takedown (2022)
Directed by Louis Leterrier
No — The Takedown is not woke, scoring 17 out of 100 on our wokeness meter.
Louis Leterrier's The Takedown arrives as a sequel to a 2012 French cop comedy that few outside France recall, and it conducts itself with the modest confidence of a picture that knows its audience is already seated and holding a remote.
Consciousness Markers
Omar Sy headlines as a Black French cop opposite a white partner, giving the film a notably diverse lead pairing, though the casting reads as natural to the buddy-cop premise rather than a statement.
The culture-clash dynamic between the two cops gestures at class and background differences in France, but race is never examined as a subject in its own right.
Izïa Higelin plays a capable female investigator, but the film offers no feminist thesis or gender commentary beyond standard genre competence.
As a broad Netflix action comedy, the film prioritizes gags and chases over any didactic messaging.
No LGBTQ+ characters, themes, or subtext appear anywhere in the film.
No environmental themes or climate messaging are present.
The criminal conspiracy is a conventional drug-and-corruption plot with no critique of capitalism or wealth.
No body-positivity themes or messaging appear.
No neurodivergent characters or themes are depicted.
The film is a contemporary action comedy with no historical revisionism.
Why it received this score
Louis Leterrier's The Takedown arrives as a sequel to a 2012 French cop comedy that few outside France recall, and it conducts itself with the modest confidence of a picture that knows its audience is already seated and holding a remote. Omar Sy and Laurent Lafitte return as the mismatched detectives, one loose and improvisational, the other brittle and procedural, and the pair is dispatched across France to trace a drug deal that swells into something larger. Netflix released it in May of 2022. It performed. The chase sequences are competent, the banter is brisk, and the whole enterprise settles into the familiar rhythm of two men insulting each other while driving.
The film's cultural footprint is light and mostly incidental. Sy's presence at the top of the call sheet gives the picture a genuinely diverse lead pairing, though the buddy-cop template absorbs him without comment and asks no questions about it. Izïa Higelin turns up as a capable investigator who holds her own in the field, and the screenplay grants her competence without ever constructing an argument around it. Where the film does brush against something larger is in the friction between its two leads, a friction of class and background and postcode that French cinema has mined for decades. Race sits nearby, unexamined. The film notices the difference and then declines to discuss it, which is its own kind of discretion.
What remains is a brisk, well-mannered entertainment with no sermon to deliver. The criminal conspiracy is a drug ring with corrupt officials attached, the oldest engine in the genre, and it carries no critique of wealth or power beyond the standard disapproval of both. No environmental lament, no body-positive subplot, no neurodivergent arc, no historical reconsideration, no lecturing. The film wants to be liked and is, mildly. In an era when the action comedy often arrives with a thesis attached, this one shows up with a car chase and a shrug. We can respect the restraint while noting that restraint and conviction are not the same thing.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Synopsis
Ousmane Diakité and François Monge are two cops with very different styles, backgrounds and careers. The unlikely pair are reunited once again for a new investigation that takes them across France. What seemed to be a simple drug deal turns out to be a much bigger criminal case wrapped in danger and unexpected comedy.
Questions about The Takedown
Is The Takedown woke?
No — The Takedown is not woke, scoring 17 out of 100 on our wokeness meter. That earns it a verdict of Ultra Based.
Does The Takedown have any woke elements?
1 of the 10 markers register at 30 or above, led by Representation Casting (38). On Representation Casting: Omar Sy headlines as a Black French cop opposite a white partner, giving the film a notably diverse lead pairing, though the casting reads as natural to the buddy-cop premise rather than a statement.
How does The Takedown compare to other 2022 movies?
It ranks #102 of the 223 films from 2022 we've scored; their average is 22. The wokest is Bros (92).
How is the Woke Score calculated?
An AI-assisted process researches the film and its reception, scores it 0–100 on ten markers, then combines those into one 0–100 Woke Score. It measures a specific set of 2020s cultural themes, not film quality.