Best action movie I have ever seen!

Rating: Null/10 (3 January 2012)

I know, a claim of a perfect 10 movie probably sounds implausible. But Taken really is the best action movie that I've seen in my life, from about 1980 on, when I was old enough to notice things like that.
I could go on, but it's simple enough to say that the story, directing, casting and performances all come together to make a work of cinematic art that you can't ignore. Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace make for what sound like an unlikely pairing, but in the end jive into a perfect father-daughter set.
The story is great. At first one might roll there eyes at "another dad goes for his daughter rescue movie." Taken is anything but that. It's not a simple, "Oh gee, person (X) is holding my daughter hostage." No, it's a complex tale of despair and danger in what is unfortunately a real-life threat. The hostage isn't sitting in a room, she's on the move between sets of devious people supported by money, graft and corruption. It's brilliant. It's HONEST.
Since this is the spoiler version, I like that the writer made the characters (primarily Neeson, as the main character) react realistically to the situation. He's an ex-CIA agent, trained to kill and with decades of experience. When it comes to fighting with someone, or tracking someone, or getting information... he doesn't do anything cute, he just does it. There are no long kung fu fight scenes, or breaking elbows backwards. No knife throwing and fighting. He just kills them, boom, hand to hand, or puts a bullet in their chest. Maybe this sounds silly, but it's nice to see a super agent actually BE a super agent.
The final scene? The true ultimate spoiler? Ever seen a Mexican standoff where the good guy ends up dropping his weapon and then the scene develops into some stupid game of cat-and-mouse to win? Well, a Mexican standoff does happen. Or rather, the bad guy tries it. Puts a knife to Neeson's daughter's neck and hides behind her. Neeson hesitates in the standoff, his pistol raised... and then a few seconds later, after he's had time to perfectly line up his shot, puts a bullet in the guy's head, firing past his daughter. Just what you want to see from a super spy marksman.
Honestly, when that happened I cheered and almost jumped off the couch shouting, "FINALLY!!!" It was good to see the "reality" of a rescue/espionage film.
Go out and see this movie. In fact, don't even rent it. Go out and find it at the store and buy the DVD. You WILL watch it over and over.