There's Serious Money at Stake in "Take the Night," By Kathia Woods

When discussing the independent thriller Take the Night, the classic "20 Questions" format is flipped. After finishing this film, audiences will have at least 20 questions about the film's plot. Thankfully, there is enough good in this movie to suggest it on a very light level. 

Take the Night is Seth McTigue's first credit as an actor, director, writer, or producer, and at first glance, the film could be mistaken for a low-budget version of David Fincher's 1997 drama The Game. That's because the protagonists in both stories are humorless workaholics whose distant brother plots a dangerously intricate hoax for their birthday. Though the similarities raise questions, Take the Night rapidly diverges to its own path. 

Robert Chang (Sam Song Li) is the dynamic young leader of the global corporation that his father's death has bequeathed him. William, his older brother, is played by Roy Huang, and he works for him despite his resentment of his position of authority. William plans to celebrate Robert's forthcoming birthday by hiring four men to pretend to kidnap and abduct the infant. He hires four professional criminals without realizing it, and they end up kidnapping Robert for real. Two of the brothers in the quartet, Chad (McTigue) and Todd (Brennan Keel Cook), argue almost as often as Robert and William. The other two criminals are PTSD sufferers: Justin (Antonio Aaron) and Shannon (Shomari Love), who is given a backstory and appears in a few early scenes before mysteriously disappearing for the rest of the film.

Almost instantly, a slew of inquiries is raised. To what end did William reason that a phony kidnapping would make a good birthday present? It's unclear whether William was trying to be cruel, though it was a hilarious gag, or something else entirely; in The Game, Sean Penn's wayward brother used this "gift" to force Michael Douglas' grim banker to come out of his shell. 

And what exactly were the claimed gory details of the staged kidnapping? When the hired actors put a sack over Robert's head, they were meant to lead him to a deserted warehouse and then... what? Eventually, you should accompany him to his surprise party, but for now? Let him sit there for who knows how long while chained and gagged, wetting himself? (To Your Birthday,) Intoxicate him to the point of unconsciousness? Let him out of his shackles so you can see Ted Lasso back to back. 

The unexpected finale, reminiscent of the reveal of Keyser Söze at the end of The Usual Suspects, serves as the climax. It's handled awkwardly and unsatisfyingly, to the point where it's barely believable here.

McTigue is at his best when he is in charge of a production. He polishes the film to look like a professional production, and cameraman Rainer Lipski does a great job. Some of the shot choices are quite brilliant, and they stick out just enough to be noticed without being distracting. McTigue also gets excellent work from his cast, which features no weak links despite the show-stopping turn from Huang and Li as the rivaling brothers. 

Indeed, McTigue's direction is solid, and his acting is decent, so the main tweaking that has to be done is to his writing. But the only part that needs fixing is the why; the other parts, such as who, what, where, and when, are all taken care of adequately. 

Take the Night is available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Vudu, and other streaming services