A slick but rough action gem

Rating: 7/10 (5 November 2016)

Written by Luc Besson, who's responsible for just about every decent French action flick in the last decade, and directed by Pierre Morel who also directed DISTRICT 13, there was no real chance that TAKEN wouldn't be a decent thriller. It's a lean, mean movie, pared down to the essential elements and while it would be wrong to go in thinking of this as an epic, it's very good for what it is. TAKEN is essentially a revenge film that never shies or veers away from the main narrative thrust, which is that Liam Neeson must find his kidnapped daughter before she's sold by sex traffickers.
The film is heavily influenced in both direction and style by the BOURNE movies, which is no bad thing as those films are among my favourites. There's a focus on realism throughout as well as a gritty edge that sees Neeson taking no prisoners in his search for his missing girl. Neeson's not everybody's first choice as an action hero but he's actually pretty good in the role – never for one moment do you not believe that he's capable of what he performs here. He's one of the screen's hardest good guys as of late.
I guess you might say the simple story is pretty predictable, but the story is never the strong point in these films anyway. Criticism has been levelled against this movie, claims of racism, of it being another variant of the old "America's good, foreigners are bad" xenophobia, but these critics are looking too hard. TAKEN wants to be a straightforward action flick, with plenty of thrills and spills, and it achieves its aims admirably. 2008 has been a pretty decent year for action flicks and this comes second to only RAMBO in terms of tension, suspense, and excitement.
The action scenes are well-handled in an over-edited way, similar to the ones you'll find in Bourne and Bond these days. Neeson battles an absolute ton of bad guys in set pieces that happen so quickly they're blink-and-you'll-miss-em. There are the requisite car chases, shoot-outs, and martial arts battles, as well as explosions and torture. It may not be art, and it may not be original, but I loved it anyway.
The movie actually gets better and better as it progresses; time is taken out to get to know the characters before plunging them into darkness and then the tension continues to ratchet up every few minutes until it's at breaking point. Kudos to the filmmakers for not shying away from the violence, which is strong throughout, although the film never dwells on it. A vein of black humour also helps immensely in this slick-but-rough action gem.