Taken Review

Rating:

4 out of 5

Short version: While parts of it are a stretch, overall Liam Neeson makes Taken an extremely satisfying action flick.

Liam Neeson in Taken review
Screen Rant reviews Taken

My opinion of Taken may be skewed – I have a daughter. So a movie that shows a father’s daughter being kidnapped and the father going after the perpetrators with a vengeance most definitely speaks to me.

Another factor in favor of the film is casting an older actor as a kick ass action hero: Liam Neeson. Of course the flip side is that having a 56 year old “regular guy” kicking major amounts of butt does strain credulity just a bit.

Taken opens with Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) in the living room of a modest home. He’s alone and seems lonely. It turns out that he is divorced and is trying to make up for lost time with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). His ex-wife Lenore (a very stiff Famke Janssen) has married a rich man, and Bryan is having a hard time competing with that, even though his Kim obviously loves him.

Kim wants to go on a trip to France with a friend, but being ex-CIA and familiar with the dangers that are out there doesn’t want her to go. His ex-wife bullies him and his daughter’s disappointment finally convinces him to reluctantly let her go, but with a bunch of rules for calling him and checking in often.

Of course he turns out to be right and she and her friend are kidnapped rather soon after their arrival in Paris. Kim calls her dad while terrified as she sees her friend being manhandled, knowing that she is next. Bryan immediately goes into “CIA mode” during the call and when one of the kidnappers gets on the phone Bryan tells him that he has kidnapped the wrong person in no uncertain terms.

He heads off to Paris alone to track down the kidnappers and save his daughter, and that’s where the fun really begins. Despite the heavy tone of the film and what is at stake, it’s great watching Neeson as he follows the breadcrumbs, taking twists and turns (some of which are VERY unexpected) in tracking down his daughter’s whereabouts.

Surprisingly, Taken is rated PG-13. They manage this with the old “no blood visible” trick, but from the amount of violence and the subject matter (teen girls being kidnapped for sale into prostitution and addicted to serious drugs) I certainly think this should have been rated R.

Neeson is calm, cool and he kicks all kinds of bad guy butt. I enjoyed the film so much I could easily sit through it again, but it did have its flaws. Why did his CIA buddies not offer to go along and help? Some of the action scenes are a bit unbelievable considering how outnumbered Neeson is and the fact that they don’t present him as an uber-buff Stallone character. The number of dots he connects within a short span of time is also hard to swallow. And one of the people he kills at the end of the film with no repercussions is a bit hard to swallow.

But enough with the nit-picking: Taken was a rocking good time, especially during this January/February time of year when there isn’t much worth seeing at the movies.

Tags: 4 star movies, taken,

Ken J

I agree with lovestory, I think...

Ken J

Very interesting points you brought up jokfeer. After some deliberation, I would have to conclude that I agree with almost everything you just said...

Antony

Yeah, the movie is certainly better looking than any Seagal epic, free of their most ridiculous (yet, entertaining in a different way) aspects (like the "This guy is good" speeches some villains say about Seagal's character in a movie), but it just felt one-dimensional, pedestrian and a bit superficial (when it comes to writing, especially considering the very serious subject of trafficking/modern slavery). Neeson's presence saves it and makes the audience "care" a bit about this father that wants to save his girl (because Neeson has the acting chops to convince you, not the script). Still, entertaining and solid adventure, I didn't say it was bad, a well filmed beat'em up featuring a great actor, but nothing that can stay with you after it's over. :)

Ken J

Anthony, while I agree with you for the most part, I wouldn't belittle the movie down to Steven Seagal. Sure it was just nonstop carnage for most of the film, but the violence in the movie is slightly more BELIEVABLE (I said believable, not realistic per-se) than with most movies of this type. Plus the motivation for his rampage makes it so satisfying to watch, which makes it a great watch in my opinion.

Antony

You know, if there ever was a REAL candidate for a Final Fight style sidescrolling beat-em-up based on a movie, TAKEN is the one. After the movie takes off and the hero's goal is clear, it's an endless beat'em'up.

Liam Neeson's presence is what gives this far-fetched action yawn with paper-thin characters any kind of "credibility". This is DTV material, and his sole presence (alongside Famke Janssen) is what makes it look like a "proper" movie.

I could see this starring Steven Seagal and released on DVD, with very few things changed.

Still, this is a very enjoyable mindless beat'em'up, and an actor like Liam Neeson makes it more than watchable. To his credit, if any lesser actor was playing in the role, we would never believe one second of it.

Don't take it as a film that properly talks about its serious subject matter - it's a beat em up.

Ken J

Well zibe, he WAS in the CIA, so perhaps he does have those sort of connections, lol. They do make a living out of tracking people down. Some people are just harder to find, especially when you are forced to follow law and protocol, but he didn't have to abide by any of that so he had free reign to exercise any skill he had.

zibe

yeah the things that this man is able to do with his connections is amazing, and a bit unrealistic. that is the point though. The movie is meant to reach out to anybody with paternal or maternal instincts. This movie is a visual depiction of what every persons says they would do if they lose a love due to a kidnapping or murder or any other unspeakable crime in which a person harms one of our own loved ones. I personally loved the movie seen it twice on screen and will buy the dvd.

lilly

taken is so cool i love it its amazing
i llllloooooovvvvveeee it
whoooooooooo
can wait to get the dvd

Ashley

I thought this was was pretty good.

Jake

Great review. I was equally positive in my review of it at MyMovieSpot.BlogSpot.com.

Ken J

Casino Royale's hand to hand combat is definitely far more realistic than this. People are more resiliant than you think, a lot can even take a concussion and stay conscious, much less get knocked out by a few punches. Casino Royale showed this in the bathroom fight scene, where it took Bond beating and beating and beating and beating the guy and he was still alive, lol. But I liked this film too because it does show him going for key points in the body.

"I believe you, but it's not going to save you" lol

High Kalibur

I think the fact that all we can do is 'nit pick' at the movie being a 'bit' of a stretch is an acknowledgement of its awesomeness.

I don't see the problem everyone is having with Liam Neeson being a highly skilled combatant? The film tells us, literally, that he has a particular set of skills acquired over a long career that make him a nightmare for scumbags. In the First Act is becomes evident that he is not rusty.

An actual flash back of him younger or something like that would have been counterproductive to the flow of the film and completely unnecessary.

I found this action to be a lot more credible then James Bond... any James Bond. Definetly more realistic then Live Free or Die Hard. Someone help me out with a recent major action film that could be compared to this one...?

I've seen it twice already, this film accomplishes everything it sets out to do. The writing, directing, acting and choreography are fantastic. In truth, I think it was kind of short, I definitely wasn't getting tired of the well crafted action scenes.

I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more quality films from this director, Pierre Morel.

And... of course... Liam Neeson is awesome! As a matter of fact... this is one of my favorite movies!

Lob Taylor

Not a bad flick actually. though i think the whole loneliness ,am all there for my daughter , i'll give up my life and mope around my grown daughter i wasnt there for ,was more than a tad overdone.

you'll notice parallels to Man on Fire , but yeah overall a nice flick

Ken J

Well, that "roll" he did as he landed was supposed to dissipate some of the energy from the fall. The way they teach you to land from a relatively high jump is different in real life, but the concept is the same.

Cali

I agree almost completely with the review. Absolutely loved the movie and I thought the action sequences were great. The one thing I kind of wanted to nit pick at on the review s is the fact that yes some of it was a stretch and a bit over the top for a normal man to accomplish BUUUUUT it was not over the top or even remotely pushing it when we put it into the context of a hollywood action movie. He didn't really make any desperate moves that defied the laws of nature (well except maybe the long jump on to the boat) so in that context I realyl believe it was just a fantigittytasticÂ® movie.

Bill Blume

Vic, thanks for posting this review. I like Liam Neeson, and this film definitely has me interested. Now, if I can just get to a movie theater to see it!

Jason Charles

Awesome movie!

entertainmenttodayandbeyond

I really liked the film. It was like sitting in a theater in the 80's and watching a Charles Bronson movie. I thought the first 40 minutes were they set up his character was really well done. Yes, there are plot holes but over all Neeson was great and the film for its genre is a winner!

Chuck

huntthejest

As long as Darth Maul doesn't show up.

huntthejest

If Batman could do it, surely his teacher should have no problem.

coffee

"Taken" demonstrates the fact that movies can foster a lot of awareness about issues in the world -- in this case: human-trafficking

Gary

Vic ,
They just edited out the part where he rose out of The Lazarus Pit with the strength of 20 men!

Ken J

Well, even in real life, it has more to do with training than your age or anything physical. Like the last guy he fought, sure you can look at it as simply a movie formula where the final person is the hardest, like a "boss fight" in a game, or you can look at it in that the guy he fought at the end was the head of security for that rich guy so he also have received top notch training and experience in order to qualify for that job. So even though Mills can take down other people twice this guy's size in about 5 seconds, it takes much longer for him since he is almost equally trained.

I don't think it's too far fetched to see a brawl go down that way if you put a CIA field agent up against a bunch of idiot thugs.

Not to mention, Liam Neeson is a pretty big dude... And like Patrick said, he did teach Batman everything he knows... :-P

Vic Holtreman

@Darren

Don't get me wrong, I loved this movie. But having Neeson repeatedly taking out rooms full of young bad guys who you'd think could defend themselves pretty well was just a bit over the top.

Then again I suppose you could say he had the element of surprise on his side. :-)

I've seen it twice now and I loved it both times. To me this is a repeater, like the Die Hard movies.

Vic

piratedan

Vic's deficiencies were right on, it's a bit of a stretch that the bad guys can never shoot straight or the amount of collateral damage going on with little or no repurcussions, but it is brainier than most of the usual action fare where the good guy does have to connect the dots and uses his wherewithal to do so.

Gary

Saw it today
I liked it a lot .
I am glad there were some quieter moments at the end.
I think the audience needed a breather.
Me too.
still,
I highly reccommend this film.

Ken J

It's kind of like Bourne, but slightly better in my opinion. In Bourne they like to do fast cuts and close ups so you can't tell what's going on. Basically you see Bourne flail his arms about and all of a sudden everyone around him is on the ground. Here, you see him hitting people in vital areas like the throat, groin, kidneys, etc.

Darren seeley

For years on TV we had The Equalizer; the late Charles Bronson had five Death Wishes, in recent times we had seen The Limey, Chuck Norris had 'Walker' on TV and last year we saw the return of Rambo. Now, all of a sudden...we can't really believe a guy in his mid to late 50's can't knock a few bad guys around?

I'll guess I'll have to see this to really know what or where you are getting with that 'flaw', but as of now, I don't follow this line of logic, Vic. Unless he does something like Jason Bourne-ish where it's something thrilling yet unrealistic.

Ken J

It's weird, because he's such a bad ass, he knows if he wanted to he can kill you before you even know you're being attacked, yet he's such a timid guy to people he's not taking down, lol.

But I guess that's true of a lot of people in real life, they don't have anything to prove, so they don't try to act tough when they don't need to.

But yah Vic, those are good ones.

"It's only a flesh wound" I totally did not see that coming, lol. I guess you do what you have to when your daughter is on the line...