Taken
Sometimes an action movie needs to go out and make no pretentions about what it is, and strive to be more like their main characters, which is lean, mean and efficient. Thus is the case with this 2008 release, a film that from the getgo doesnât screw around: It introduces its lead in the first fifteen minutes and tells us everything we need to know about him, establishes the predicament heâs facing, and has him go out and handle that predicament whist wasting as little amount of time as possible. Liam Neeson stars as a retired CIA operative now living in LA to be close to his daughter (Maggie Grace) as possible after her mother (Famke Janssen) has gotten remarried. Soon she comes to him asking a favor: Sign off on giving permission for her to travel to Europe with her girlfriend so she can tool around and see the sights. Neeson is understandably reluctant, having come to know more about the world through his own exploits, but finally agrees after being pressured by Janssen and asking his daughter to keep in touch on a daily basis. No sooner do the girls land in Paris then they are targeted by a white slavery sex ring, who kidnaps them out of their luxury apartment and in the time it takes to say âI told you soâ, Neeson is on the first plane over there to track and kill and the offending parties (gotta love how when he gets her frightened phone call before she is taken, he appears totally prepared to deal with the situation). The basic effect is almost like watching one of the Hostel movies only with a Jack Bauer-type character thrown into the mix (even the daughterâs name is Kim), complete with a Bauer-like interrogation scene where one unlucky sex trader gets to feel the power of Neesonâs questioning skills (along with the power that supplies the buildingâs electricity). Quite literally, the character is shown tearing through the European sex market as if it were tissue paper, rampaging through from one illicit place to another, all leading up to finding his daughter at a high-end sex auction, where she draws a higher price because of the fact that she is â100% confirmed pureâ. I suppose a more serious film could be made about the European sex trade from a more realistic point of view, but this is not that movie, even showing the French Police Force as being in the pocket of the industry and thus trying to impede Neesonâs rampage, which is probably why this wasnât too popular in Europe but was a major smash hit in the United States, so much so that it has led to an impending sequel. And yes, olâ Liam racks up a HELLACIOUS body count here, killing the scumbags left and right even as many of them seem to have a clear shot on him but continuously miss instead (a dear old action movie clichĂ© indeed). Overall, one of the best adrenaline ride action movies of the last ten years, and a modern cousin of the classic Arnold shoot em up CommandoâŠ
9/10