Review

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2014)

"The next part is very important. They're going to take you." Bryan Mills, a loving father gives this information to his teenage daughter Kim when strangers enter the apartment that she's staying in while being away in Paris. In this moment you can sense Bryan's sense of fear and true love for his daughter as he coaches her about what to do in the next 10 seconds that she has before the attackers come to find her since they already have Kim's friend.
Taken is an action-thriller movie directed by Pierre Morel through the studio of EuropaCorp. Taken stars Liam Neeson, as the biological father Bryan Mills, and Maggie Grace, who stars as Kim, Bryan's daughter. When Kim is kidnapped from a friend's relative's apartment in Paris, Bryan is luckily on the phone. Being a retired CIA agent, Bryan is determined to use every last resource and every last hour, which he is told is only 96, to find Kim. Taken was given a rating of 7.9 out of 10 when it was released in 2008.
Hearing Kim being kidnapped was very difficult for Bryan because now that he's retired and settled, he is trying to build a relationship with his daughter. Although Bryan is having difficulty competing for Kim's attention with her loving and wealthy stepfather, Bryan refuses to back down. Having been a CIA agent and knowing what goes on in the world, when Kim came to Bryan for permission to go to Paris with a friend, it was difficult for him to say yes. Loving his daughter more than anything, he let Kim travel with a few conditions. When Kim was kidnapped, Bryan was determined to do anything to get her back, whether he caused trouble for himself or not.
The Albanian mobsters that we learn take Kim and her friend have a specialty in trafficking women. They have been known specifically for kidnapping women, addicting them to drugs, and turning them into prostitutes. As action oriented as the film is, it was in a smaller part meant to bring attention to the issue of trafficking humans. The film brings awareness to this issue in a subtle way that shows how "the business" works and how it is happening all over the world, not necessarily in poor countries.
I would recommend this movie. Taken is thrilling and full of action, tension, excitement, and a run of emotions. The twists and turns around every corner keep the viewer on their toes. It makes you want to keep watching to find out how everything turns out in the end.