Contrived

Rating: 6/10 (3 July 2011)

If a little more care had been taken over the plot, this could have been an excellent movie. Integral and essential parts of the story are too rushed and contrived, and require a huge if temporary suspension of belief.
Where it scores more highly is in realism during the action scenes, with what would appear at least to be physically possible and well executed stunts. Neeson is throughly believable as the no-nonsense, shoot first and ask questions later, man you definitely don't want to make angry by kidnapping his daughter. Apart from the fact he's Irish and playing an Ex-CIA operative. Maybe they were short on American actors that week, or maybe the CIA had more involvement in Ireland than they would admit to.
At least we get yet another movie where Paris is torn up with car chases and explosions, and the French are portrayed as corrupt and inefficient. That alone makes me smile :)