Better than I had even hoped...

Rating: 9/10 (29 October 2008)

I pay £12.99 a month so that I can go to the cinema and see as many films as I wish. That said I won't waste my time and watch any rubbish, so I usually use reviews and websites such as this one to evaluate whether a film is worth my valuable time. A decent score for "Taken" on IMDb was countered by a one star review on Empire, stating that the film was "A venomous little actioner that mistakes bile for adrenaline." Having now seen the film for myself I can only suggest the reviewer had arrived home after putting the family pet down only to discover his wife in bed with his brother, best friend and a menagerie of farmyard animals or maybe the reviewer just doesn't dig action films. I write that because if you like action films, you are very likely to love this. It has action scenes that rival (almost feel borrowed) from the Bourne trilogy as Bryan (Neeson) pursues his daughter through the seedy criminal underworld in Paris stopping at nothing to recover his daughter. He leaves a lot of people on the floor in his efforts and it was slick, quick and violent. Superb if you like the genre. Still good if you don't. The film deals with some sensitive issues and will leave you thinking about them for a while after. We do have a tendency to have our heads in the clouds and forget that truly horrible things are happening all over the world and people good and bad are being bought and sold. Difficult to believe on this evidence Neeson is 56, what he most definitely is, is a very talented and very versatile actor. He moves from a caring father to a menacing deadly weapon in an extremely believable manner. It is the best action/revenge film I have seen in a long time- sometimes you have to judge for yourself and not base your decisions on other people's opinions- I have Empire to thank for that.