Entertaining and unique

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2009)

I hadn't been to a movie theater for years, but I don't think that alone explains why I enjoyed Taken as much as I did. The story is very appealing in this day wherein bad guys are worse than ever, and the rest of us are proportionately more abused. Going in we know the bad guys are really in for it this time. Though this one does not fall into the category strictly, there are too few revenge movies to be had.
Liam Neeson displays true acting flexibility and is one of the best heroes of the genre I've ever seen and I grew up with Connery-Bond. Indeed, during some of the action sequences, I couldn't help considering that, except for a kind of lurching instead of suaveness, Neeson could make the ideal Bond.
The action direction is good, but the dysfunctional interaction in the protagonist's family felt shallow to me--which, of course, doesn't matter--and the suspension of disbelief fails at times (a machine gun just doesn't miss that much at close range). The movie doesn't aim to win awards, just to be entertaining, and it succeeds.
Finally, Maggie Grace is remarkably convincing as a seventeen year old despite being twenty-six.