The Take

It's every bit as good as "The Sopranos" was in its prime.

Hardy and the supporting cast deliver.

It's nasty, hard-core stuff--a tale well told.

The takeaway from The Take again proves an old showbiz saw: Cast the right actor as a mobster, and being bad can be pretty damn good.

You can feel Hardy and his mad energy desperately pushing The Take along, but you can hear the gears grinding.