Release Date: 01/30/2009
Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is an ex-agency man, equipped with unique set of skills that would make John Rambo, Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne outright jealous. However, it’s apparent from the films onset that Bryan’s illustrious career has kept him detached and disconnected from a normal family life. Consequently leaving him divorced from his wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and fighting for quality time with his 17 year old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) whom he barely knows. Forced with a major parental dilemma, Bryan must decide to whether or not to let his daughter go on a trip across Europe with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy). Against his better judgment and despite his spot on gut feelings, Bryan finally lets her go after receiving a great deal of pressure from Lenore.
After arriving in the thriving city of Paris, it doesn’t take long for Kim to lose herself in the excitement, and forget to call her protective father. Which she was supposed to do when she landed. The girls eventually find their way to a luxurious apartment belonging to a relative of Amanda’s….The next five minuets or so are ones where you will cease to breathe, blink or move for that matter. With Bryan on the other end of the phone, Kim witnesses men break into the apartment and abduct Amanda. Moments later, Kim herself is also Taken. Bryan now has 96 hours to find his daughter before she’s sold as a slave on the black market.
Liam Neeson as Bryan, seems very much like a normal guy in the opening. I half expected to see some kind of “hay-day” flashback, showing off our supposed badass’s resume. But we don’t. We meet Bryan as this less then extraordinary personal body guard for a famous singer. A man who we almost feel sorry for and maybe sympathize with. It sets us up for an overwhelming character development and transformation. His daughter is kidnapped and the REAL Bryan is unveiled. With the help from some old colleagues, and a french intelligence officer, Bryan uses every trick in the “Former Spy looking for kidnapped daughter” playbook, which may be the film’s only flaw. The fact that it seemed a little to easy for Bryan to track down the people responsible. In an almost ” Follow point A to point B” format. The intensity heightens and action growls nonetheless.
If you were expecting a less than stellar performance by an actor in his 50′s, you thought wrong. Liam Neeson delivers! His palpable fatherly passion bleeds onto the screen and in a way, makes you wonder why he was never considered for similar roles all along. With his training in the field, he pulls out everything from his tool bag. Torture tactics+Bullets slinging with pin-point accuracy=Lots of dead bad guys.
From the creator of The Transporter franchise and the critically acclaimed film The Professional, Luc Besson brings us one of the most intriguing action/thrillers in years. In a film that lasts 94 minutes, a better part of 80 minutes runs at high octane, pulse pounding speeds. Overall, Taken turned out to be a better film than I, or anyone could have predicted. An excellent surprise.
Bad guys die. Liam kicks ass. See Taken!
RottenTomatoes: 59 %
IMDB: 8.0/10
MovieWiseGuys: 7.5/10