Rabid and unrelenting action film that teeters on the brink of both exploitation and as a dumb, guilty pleasure but pulls through on a basic level.

Rating: 6/10 (3 August 2009)

Taken is a trashy, pulpy, throw-away thriller in every sense of each of those words and terms. It is a film that thrives on making the lead come across as down and as out as possible; one that thrives on making the people around him, both good and evil, come across as instantly and intensely dislikable as possible; and one that really thrives on rapid, cause and effect action which desperately tries to stay as realistic as possible but very much has its mind on the notion of escapism as it panders to a crowd. The film is a shameless action movie; a revenge film; a tale in which the women exist purely to be either rescued; act like complete wenches towards their ex-husbands; or get all excited at the prospect of a ride on a cute, four legged animal. And yet, there is a certain pleasure to be had out of it, a certain dumb but familiar sense of siding with the one likable character the entire film possesses, and just willing him on with a big smile on your face.
I have an odd relationship with Luc Besson; anything he's written and made himself from what I've seen, I've taken to. As a writer with view to produce, his work's been ordinary to just plain stupid at best. Taken is a slight exception; a piece that more resembles what 1985 action movie Commando might've looked like had someone like Donald Westlake written it. It sees Liam Neeson play a divorced man, from a marriage that saw him father a daughter, but essential to the plot, he is an ex-CIA operative now working relatively small time as a bodyguard with some buddies from the government years. His name is Bryan Mills (Neeson), although at one point during the opening in a jovial exchange with a past comrades, he is referred to as 'Rambo' in what is another link to past, Reaganistic driven action film-making of the 1980s on top of the already mentioned Commando. The fact he is referred to Rambo so early on produces slight smiles as you witness what transpires.
The inclusion of a friendly character very early on whom mentions Rambo assures me that Taken knows its place, knows what it is, and by the end, is hoping we're not taking it all so seriously as to despise the film as we watch on with our brows furrowed and our tongues entrenched within our cheeks. Bryan's isolation from his daughter, the antagonism he gets from his ex-wife and the fact she has a new partner anyway is enough to make you think he might just go nuts and wipe everyone out at a vomit-inducing, overly fluffy birthday party very early on. What Mills needs is his own noir fuelled franchise; with shady and fleshed out gangsters, a past tragedy driving the bitter, cynical and somewhat ruthless lead anti-hero whom isn't afraid to shoot first, ask questions later nor ask the questions first and then leave the poor guy to suffer whilst bound to a chair.
Then again, we get some of that in Taken; a film that crosses its wires all too often but gives us an experience we enjoy without ever taking too seriously, but are immersed enough to feel the threat, helplessness and desperation most characters go through. After going to Paris with a friend, Kim Mills (Grace) is swiped from her apartment, along with friend Amanda, in a ruthlessly efficient sequence that makes Elite Hunting and their Eastern Europe set up-come-operation look amateur. After no help from anyone, Bryan takes it on himself to go after her and recover her, thus kick-starting a blood-drenched trip to Europe where people will pay.
Interestingly, Taken is listed on the IMDb, under its 'country' sub-heading, as a French film and its view of France is a less-than-desirable one. I was reminded of the 2006 Venezuealan film 'Express Kidnapping', which looked at the frightening and harsh realities of what might happen if you're not careful on the streets of Caracas. In Taken, rather than integrate an individual city (in this case, Paris) into the story as it supports the basis of the study, writer Besson and director Pierre Morel cop out and somewhat disappointingly use Albanians as a means of getting across the antagonism. All this does is tell us that 'Yes, this may happen in a nation as developed as France but if it does, it'll be down to those immigrants whom have come over and set up their own operations'.
Taken doesn't hit particularly soar, but what else can you say about a film that, unashamedly I hope, uses that laugh out loud instance in which the hero sits at a café, reads a newspaper and then reveals to us that he wasn't actually reading it as much as he was spying on a suspected enemy. It recalls that glorious moment in one of Nick Park's early Wallace and Gromit shorts in which the ever-alert mutt of the title acts like he is reading a paper, but is actually stalking a suspicious character; all played out under a banner that blurs the lines between what we take seriously and what we find amusing by way of pastiche. The film is a bizarre blend of often hard hitting material revolving around torture, sexual slavery and shootings unfolded under an umbrella of the guilty pleasure, and the idea we're watching Liam Neeson in the lead role; but don't let that sound like it's a complete load of nonsense, because it carries a certain watchability about it, something that you don't often get the chance to say about action films these days.