Paul Walker, from left, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Michael Ealy, Hayden Christensen and Idris Elba star in the action thriller “Takers.”

‘Takers” is a slickly efficient cops-and-robbers yarn, largely uncomplicated yet offering a few moments of insight and dramatic weight.

It will remind many of Michael Mann’s “Heat,” but because it lacks that film’s grandiose ambitions, it actually feels more realistic.

Our protagonists are the members of a well-heeled gang of bank robbers. Led by the scrupulously careful Jennings (Idris Elba), this band employs high-tech savvy and old-fashioned audaciousness to keep in green.

They plan their heists with military precision and pride themselves on hurting no one. They do only one job a year, leaving plenty of time to indulge in their other enterprise, a fancy nightclub frequented by L.A.’s rich and powerful.

The gang members — the others are played by Paul Walker, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen and Michael Ealy — aren’t your typical street thugs. They live in Architectural Digest high-rise apartments, affect the sartorial style of a latter-day Rat Pack and avoid the spotlight. They’re gentleman bank robbers.

And they have classy girlfriends (like Zoe Saldana) to prove it.

On their tail is a rogue cop, Welles (Matt Dillon), and his partner (Jay Hernandez). An obsessive lawman who bends and sometimes breaks the rules, Welles is a magnet for Internal Affairs investigators. But he’s also a tireless pursuer who can assemble far-flung bits of evidence to create a bigger picture.

The story (the primary writer is Peter Allen, a former staff photographer at The Kansas City Star) is kicked into action by the arrival in town of Ghost (rapper Tip “T.I.” Harris), a former gang member who has just completed a long prison sentence.

Now Ghost comes to his old partners with a scheme to rob an armored truck. They protest that they won’t have time to properly plan, but Ghost counters that he did his jail stint without giving up the rest of them. Now they owe him.

Against their better judgment, they acquiesce.

“Takers” features a couple of breathlessly executed big action scenes, but most impressive is the lived-in feel generated by unknown director John Luessenhop and his deep cast. There’s a satisfying crime procedural atmosphere to the movie.

And occasionally there’s a touch of something more. Jennings’ tender but contentious relationship with his drug-addicted sister (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) fleshes out his character. And Welles’ half-hearted attempt to be a father to his little girl (given visiting rights for a day, he uses the kid as camouflage as he stalks his criminal prey) reinforces his obsession with the job.

There’s a danger here of overselling “Takers.” It’s not a work of much substance, just a fairly simple yarn convincingly acted and smartly paced.

Sometimes that’s enough.

“Takers”

107 minutes

PG-13, for intense sequences of violence and action, a sexual situation/partial nudity and some language