Not too Shabby, Not Too Shabby At All.

Rating: 9/10 (22 February 2012)

In the long line of espionage/rouge-agents genre, you have varying qualities. Arguably one of the greatest may be the Bourne trilogies, which are in themselves films of very good caliber. Then you have the opposite end of the spectrum, such as the cliché crapfest that was "Salt". "Taken" manages to stand quite nicely amongst these films, above all else due to the presence of Liam Neeson. He plays a role we are familiar with, but Neeson never lets his audience down. His acting keeps the emotional aspect of the film intact, and fine I suppose Famke Janssen as well. I also highly enjoyed Oliver Rabourdin in the film. The movie's obvious focus is action, and it does this superbly. There are many well choreographed fight scenes and believe it or not they stay well within the walls of realism for the most part. The plot has a nice pace to it, and the uglier side of reality is seen throughout the film as it displays the gruesome nightmare of the sex slave industry.
I recommend the extended version for more ass-kicking, and definitely catch this one.