Who's the daddy!?

Rating: 8/10 (12 April 2012)

Tzvetan Todorov's model of narrative equilibrium and the action film go hand-in-hand. Harmony, disruption, restoration. Simple. Enter Taken; Director Pierre Morel kicks things off with some good old fashioned scene setting. Subtle, delicate and about as ordinary as a Nicholas Cage film. Oh, and we're also thrust onto the side of his protagonist in the most ostentatious of fashions: exiled Dad Bryan (Liam Neeson) buys his daughter a karaoke set, step dad whips out a dashing white pony. Top that. But as far as negative criticisms for Taken go, I'm spent. A mundane start and structure doesn't conceal the fact that this is a stunning, high-octane fuelled action film with a freehold on the fast and furious, the tense and intense. Second-best to Bourne, perhaps, but more than a match for those that rest and revel in the action/adventure genre.
Bryan may've been cast into the shade by a prancing pony but he's one hard b*stard. A worn, torn, tried and tested retiree trying to make up for those lost years taxed by trade. A trade that annulled a marriage, divided a three piece family suite and rid Mills of any domestic respect he may've had. His line of work? Protection. Prevention. 007 kinda stuff; he was a first-class covert infiltrator for the U.S Government. Highly- trained, highly-skilled, highly- dangerous. So I suppose it's Mr. B*stard to you, then. Neeson's adroit and wrinkled visage tells us all we need to know from the outset. He's been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. But when a clan of wily, woman traffickers "unexpectedly" up and off with daddy's little girl in Paris, the pension gets the boot and we have ourselves a movie. And a pretty good one at that: a part chase, part rescue, part action; adventure, thrill and redemption movie with verve, vigour and viscera. Archetypal? Sure. Taken throws up nothing new, but it is one of the best of its overcooked kind: sometimes heavy, sometimes cruel. Gritty in places, stylish in others. Clever in areas, conservative in others. It's a very well made film fresh from the minds and eyes that bought us the superb French thriller, District 13.
Co-penned, then, by Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel, Taken draws numerous and sometimes obvious likings to the Jason Bourne franchise; guerrilla styled photography, breakneck editing, fast cars, fast hands, state of the art tech', superior covert opp' crushing skull after skull. Bourne didn't know who or what he was, though. Mills does: a pensioned off, ticked off CIA hard nut without the rust and with plenty of thrust ("I will find you, and I will kill you!" ). For all its heart stopping scraps and tussles, takedowns, beatdowns, fist, gun and knife fights, Taken succeeds in mining our emotions and domestic qualms on an up-close and personal level. The empathy injection, although clichéd, works to the film's advantage. None of us could really relate to Bourne's mind state or predicament but with this- we kind of can. Whether it be as a father, mother, daughter or even tourist. Thus every grapple, pursuit, punch, shift, block, bullet, bob and weave has added intent and meaning. You'll be willing Neeson's Mills on through every horde of baddies as he plots and pummels his way to his daughter's aid.
It's Neeson who'll no doubt seize the plaudits, then. And why not. The acclaimed thesp' churns out yet another first-class performance as the determined, ageing action hero; proving once more that there's no role he cant take on without rendering both his own and convincing. Neeson's pin-sharp portrayal of Mills' means the character's not just his corny little girl's rock, he's ours too. The man's an exceptional actor. His Taken turn reiterates his kudos as one of the industry's finest.
As for the film itself? In terms of flat-out entertainment? It's the best since the Bourne Supremacy by a mile. Yes, I said Supremacy. Didn't go much on Ultimatum I'm afraid. But I'll leave that for another day. Anyway, Taken's energy, score and degree of grip factor are spot- on but it's in the cutting room where the film really excels. Sharp, swift, seamless: the action set-pieces are cut to near perfection: showing us just enough on occasion to evoke a grimace, gasp or sly snigger. Heads get slammed in car doors. Bones get crushed. Noses broken. Skulls fractured. Action film junkies: satisfied.
Taken is a solid all-round effort. Hardly flawless but all you could ever really ask for from a steely, high-concept adventure film.