Why so many positive reviews? This was terrible.

Rating: 3/10 (29 January 2009)

Normally I have no problem kicking back, switching my brain off, suspending my disbelief and having a great time enjoying a mindless action flick, but this was too much. One of the main problems is that this mindless action flick sees itself as a smart action/thriller/drama ala Man On Fire, which it most certainly is not. If the movie had embraced it's ridiculousness and not taken itself so seriously it could have been a decent (at best) popcorn movie. Liam Neeson (who I think is great in almost anything he does) is completely miscast as a one man army, punching and kicking his way through over 40 much younger, fitter, stronger men. This is not Bourne, this is not Bond, and it most definitely is not Man On Fire, this is a second rate PG-13 Rambo, with watered down violence and the heavy themes sugarcoated beyond belief to protect the fragile minds of film goers brought up on the idea that things really aren't that bad in the world and good will always defeat evil no matter how badly the odds are against them. Taken is typical, by the numbers, Hollywood crap. It's bound to make a killing in the US, but it deserves nothing more than to go straight to DVD.