Prepare to get Taken for the ride of your life! "Liam Neeson is an unstoppable force" (Premiere) in this action-packed international thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. When his estranged teenage daughter (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped in Paris, a former spy (Neeson) sets out to find her at any cost. Relying on his special skills, he tracks down the ruthless gang that abducted her and launches a one-man war to bring them to justice and rescue his daughter.
Language: Dubbed & Subtitled: English, French & Spanish
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 2.40:1
Widescreen Feature Film
Extended Cut seamlessly branched
Forced Trailers:Wolverine, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, 12 Rounds, Valkyrie
Trailer Farm: Notorious, Nobel Son, Possession
What could be a skillful but ordinary action flick gets a surprising emotional heft from the presence of Liam Neeson as the hero. Bryan Mills (Neeson) has given up his career as a spy to form a relationship with his estranged teenage daughter--but when, on a trip to Paris, she's kidnapped by slavers, Mills uses all his connections and skills to turn the city of lights upside down and rescue her. Like most of the movies that writer/producer Luc Besson has a hand in (such as La Femme Nikita, The Transporter, Unleashed, and many other French action movies), Taken drips with lurid violence (a bit toned-down to get a PG-13 rating, but there's still plenty of it), deranged sentimentality, and stereotypes of all kinds. But this doesn't stop his movies from being effective thrill-rides, and Taken is no exception. Taken pays just enough attention to the illusion of procedure--making it seem like Mills knows all the right steps to track down his daughter--that the movie cheerfully seduces your suspension of disbelief, despite many plot holes and scenes where Mills doesn't get scratched despite bullets flying in all directions or pretends to be a French policeman despite not speaking French or even adopting a French accent. What holds it all together is Neeson; his gravitas and emotional availability make his character--the usual action fantasy of impossible competence and righteous fury--somehow seem real and relatable. --Bret Fetzer
Stills from Taken (Click for larger image)
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Fast Moving Suspense:
Well, all props to a suspense-thriller these days which has the nerve to posit an Arab as one of the villains. Heck, that hasn't happened in a mainstream movie in simply ages, not since Ah-nold was only a movie actor and not the Governator of California. So, here is a taut and swift-moving thriller, with a seemingly indestructible hero/family man, single-mindedly boring through Paris like a runaway oil-rig drill, utilizing old contacts, old friends, mad spy skilz and no little willingness to pour on the... more info
great action film:
Liam Neeson proves he can play the action hero as well s anyone in this action thriller.he plays the father of a 17year old who has been kidnapped while in Paris.with very little to go on,he races against time to find her kidnappers and save her.oh,and he has a very particular set of skills.in short,they messed with the wrong guy.what follows are some very intense fight scenes,which are very well choreographed.but this is not just an action movie.there are certainly some dramatic moments and the movie is... more info
Well made action-fantasy flick:
"Taken" is a well made action flick and also a fantasy of revenge and redemption, starring Liam Neeson as retired CIA operative Bryan Mills. It's the kind of role that Harrison Ford might have done well with 10 or 15 years ago. Neeson is very good, but he doesn't have Ford's humor, and the script is mostly humorless, too. Mills's ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen, Jean Grey in the X-Men franchise), dumped him ostensibly because Mills's CIA work kept him away from home, but she then managed to marry some... more info
This movie should be watched after viewing 13 Tzameti and Hostel 1:
The tension will be heightened if you watch Hostel 1 before watching this movie and 13 Tzameti informs the local color of the Parisian underbelly. This is an entertaining as well as useful cautionary tale. Watch it with your high school age children.
