Taken is a perfectly serviceable action thriller, given perhaps more legitimacy by the talents of it's star, Liam Neeson. He plays Brian Mills, a middle aged former spy now living a quiet(read: dull) life in retirement. His life now revolves around his daughter Kim(Maggie Grace, looking like she's been de-aged since she left Lost), who now lives with her mother and new stepfather. Staying relevant ain't easy, considering Kim's new daddy might be kindof a rich man, which I came to conclude after he bought what looked to be Man O'War or Seabiscuit for her 17th birthday. Kinda beats that karaoke machine ya got her there, pops.
But Brian isn't totally without hope. In fact, he's suddenly relevant again when Kim decides she wants to go on a European tour with her best friend. He initially resists, but ultimately relents, but warns her of the dangers. He's been to Paris, he knows how dangerous those baguettes really can be, not to mention those pesky slave traders hangin' about. Sure enough, the same day Kim lands in France, their house is broken into. Kim makes a frantic call to Brian as she watches her friend be taken away. He calmly tells her to hide under the bed, but you gotta give him points for honesty because he tells her flat out that she will be taken, and sure enough she is. Brian immediately puts his old skills into action in order to find his daughter and make sure she stays safe.
I got much more wrapped up into this film than I had any business being. It's co-written by Luc Besson, who I'm sure you all know by now is a creator that I idolize, and this film is filled with all of his usual trappings. The action is quick and brutal, almost Bourne-like. The story is linear, straight to the point, much like Besson's other recent works. He leaves out most of the extraneous procedural nonsense in order to stick solely to the agenda at hand. This is both good and bad. Obviously it makes for a faster paced story, but it also makes some of Brian's discoveries seem awfully convenient. He learns pretty much everything he needs to from a single sentence recorded at the time of the kidnapping. A bit of a stretch even for a movie of this type. But Besson films always do this, and there is enough action to make me not care.
As for the action itself, Neeson is better suited to the role than some would expect, but you have to remember that this is a guy who played a friggin' Jedi in a Star Wars film, so he's got the experience at this sortof thing. Neeson has always been a phenomenal actor, and his work here is typically strong playing the put upon "forgotten" father, so to speak. In fact, this film would be considerably worse without his presence. Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace don't really have much to do here, this is Neeson's show all around.
All in all Taken is a solid action film that will hopefully help get the bad taste of Luc Besson's Transporter 3 out of your mouth. I think there's some potential for a sequel here, especially with the film really doing well in the box office. There seems to be a market to see a middle-aged man kicking the arses of literally dozens of men half his age. But we'll just have to wait and see.
7/10
