taken

Rating: 8/10 (16 October 2013)

Taken is an action thriller film which features the recognized action star, Liam Neeson as the father of Maggie Grace his 18 year old daughter who longs to travel to France, encouraged by her mother, Famke Janssen who is remarried to Maggie's stepfather, Xander Berkely. The start of the movie is set in America in 2009, until Kim (Maggie Grace) travels to France, where the remainder of the movie is set.
Brian Mills (Liam Neeson) is a former CIA agent who is struggling to come to terms with his divorce and is trying to keep a good relationship with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). Kim is a teenager and wants to travel to France with a friend from school. Kim's mom Lenore (Famke Janssen) is encouraging this trip along with Kim's wealthy stepfather Stuart (Xander Berkely) contrary to what Brain believes to be best for his daughter. After much convincing, Brian allows this trip to happen and gives Kim a plethora of safety precautions in order to stay safe. However, upon Kim's arrival in France, she and her friend take a taxi with a man who, once he finds out where they are staying, eventually comes back to kidnap them. During the kidnapping, Kim is on the phone to Brain, and he knows exactly how to handle this situation. Kim is brought into the human trafficking industry and Brian must bring back his previous CIA training in order to make it to his daughter before it is too late.
A lot of this movie shows Brian using his special training to get to what he wants, his daughter Kim. The actions scenes keep the audience on their toes. One scene in particular where the filmmaking was crucial was in one of the final scenes where Brian comes face to face with a man who had purchased his daughter. In order to reach this man, Brian had to have many violent fights. The music was suspenseful and the sound effects made it seem extremely realistic. The fast paced camera switch ups between the villains and Brian also kept a high energy. When Brian finally made it to the man who was in control of his daughter, the suspense is extremely high. This energy is maintained by the suspenseful music and the gunshots exchanged in the fight.
Taken was an action film that kept me guessing throughout the entirety of the movie. It was refreshing to see an action movie that stayed true to the plot without being predictable and was also based upon true events. Usually, I try to stay away from stereotypical action movies, but this one definitely captured my interest, kept me guessing and left me wanting more.