Taken (2009)

Taken is the type of film we've all seen a hundred times before, most of them starring Steven Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme. They always involve a man with 'Special Skills' that hates to use them unless his family is threatened by some foolish criminals who've messed with the wrong guy.

Apart from the film's star Liam Neeson, Taken has straight-to-DVD written all over it, but managed to exceed expectations and took over $125 Million at the box office and became an even bigger hit on DVD. At the time, critics went to town on it with some saying 'A venomous little actioner that mistakes bile for adrenaline'. In hindsight, comments like that and many others were a little harsh as Taken is an enjoyable action film. Stupid, but enjoyable.

The story follows Bryan (Liam Neeson) who is a retired government agent struggling to get back into the life of his daughter (Maggie Grace). When his daughter is kidnapped whilst holidaying in Paris, Bryan has less then four days to track her down before she is lost forever......intense!

OK, so the film has it's bad points. The script is truly awful, with lines such as 'I'll tear down the Eiffel Tower if I have to' being a particular favourite. Maggie Grace is wrongly cast playing a 17-year old at the age of 25. Surely director Pierre Morel could of found someone of that age? And maybe I'm being a bit picky or unfair but she has the weirdest run I've seen in a film that wasn't done for laughs. So yes, as a critic it's hard to justify Taken as anything but a terrible movie, I just can't do it as I took great enjoyment from watching it. Taken delivers on its promise of being an over the top action film, It doesn't try to be anything else and Producer Luc Beesson and Pierre Morel should be congratulated for that.

Morel keeps the film lean, never pausing the action long enough for any questions to be asked such as 'Where's the French Police while all this Kung-Fu is happening?' Most of the scenes that involve more then one sentence happen in the first 30 minutes as most of the main characters are introduced to us. Fortunately, most of  the film is from Bryan's point of view. No screen time is wasted on watching his daughter try and escape from her kidnappers or his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) in a constant panic. This film is solely about the action, which is brutal. Bryan seems totally unstoppable, simply moving from one kill to the next. He doesn't care who he kills/tortures to get his daughter back (you wouldn't even dream of taking his daughter on a date for fear of Bryan waking you up in the middle of the night with some rope and nails).

For those who've yet to see Taken make sure you give it a try on Blu-Ray. Taken offers a film with a likable hero, real nasty villains and some great action. With Taken 2 officially been given the thumbs up, there's no better time to watch it.