Go Liam!

Rating: 8/10 (29 May 2013)

Liam Neeson's daughter is "Taken" in this 2008 action thriller also starring Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, and Katie Cassidy. Directed by Pierre Morel, the script was written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen.
A retired CIA agent, Bryan Mills, has moved and given up his career to be closer to his daughter Kim (Grace). His ex-wife Lenore (Janssen) has remarried, to a very wealthy man, and she seems to be limiting Bryan's access to his daughter. However, on her 17th birthday, he drops into her party and gives her a gift. He's thrilled when she calls later and says she wants to have lunch with him. However, Lenore comes along; in order for Kim to travel to Paris, she needs his permission and signature. Bryan doesn't agree right away. He's seen the seamier part of life and doesn't want her traveling alone in Paris. He finally agrees to let her go when he learns she'll be staying at the apartment of her traveling companion Amanda's cousins.
Of course, the cousins actually aren't there, and rather than haunt the museums, Kim and Amanda are following a rock group's tour. Kim is supposed to call him every night but that slips her mind. When she finally calls, it's just as Amanda is being kidnapped. Bryan remains calm, tells her to get under the bed, and when she is taken, and she will be, to scream out as much of a description as possible.
What follows is a rip-roaring, fast moving, kick ass Liam Neeson tracking down the culprits, who are engaged in the trafficking of young women. Bryan takes no prisoners, and he uses every CIA trick at his disposal, including hotwiring cars, torture, gunplay, fighting skills - you name it.
This is a terrific movie, and there's just enough of a setup so that we care deeply what happens. So often action films give us a shell of a story and then get right into the action - and while the action can be terrific, this is the type of film you can get into for the characters as well as the action.
Liam Neeson - action hero. A new genre for him in 2008; it's a genre hopefully he will explore more.