Good Fun!

Rating: 8/10 (18 November 2008)

Liam Neeson is not the first actor who springs to mind when you think of movie action heroes. For a start he's 56 years old but why should that get in the way , look at Harrison Ford . The difference is Bryan Mills is no Indiana Jones! He's one guy you don't p**s off and for very good reason!
"Taken" is "24" meets "The Bourne Identity". It stars Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, a retired American spy whose daughter Kim (Maggie Grace from "Lost") is kidnapped in Paris while he's on the phone to her from Los Angeles. The kidnappers come on the line and Mills tries to warn them what they're letting themselves in for:
"I don't know who you are. If you're looking for ransom, I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills acquired over a very long career in the shadows, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you. And I will kill you."
But do they listen? Do they merde!
Now ," Taken " really is a film that you have to turn of the logic side of your brain before you go into the Cinema. If you do that then your in for one hell of ride . It's action all the way and quite brutal action at times too. Neeson manages to kicks the butts of men half his age but somehow it works. He comes away from situations without a scratch while his enemies suffer thanks to his US military training.
If i had to criticise this film for anything it's not for the fact that it's ridiculously far fetched or the script is a little stiff its because of the way Neeson's Character reacts when his daughter say shes going on holiday to Europe to watch U2 . You would think that she just told her dad she was of to Beirut to join Hezbollah! Your much more likely to get into trouble in the big Cities of the US than in places like Paris or London. Personally i would have been more concerned that my daughter was listening to crap like U2!
But who am i to criticise as predictably daddy is proved right when she is whisked off by some nasty dark skinned Europeans before she's even unpacked!.
How have i survived all this time living and working in London!
That criticism aside i really enjoyed Taken. It's pure adrenaline packed entertainment and maybe we do have a new competitor to rival the three B's - Bond , Bourne & Bauer ?
I wouldn't say no to another portion of Bryan Mills and his no nonsense approach to life.
Good fun.
Taken is released in the US on January 30th 2009.
8 out of 10