Good for the genre

Rating: Null/10 (15 January 2009)

I normally don't go out for action flicks, so I was sort of surprised by how Taken picked me up on a wave and carried me pretty well through, though with a few hiccups along the way.
But, in the end, it's just an action flick. It's pretty predictable stuff, hence, no danger of "spoiling" it. To wit: Enormously talented security dude, estranged from his family (because of his line of work), but still deeply loves his daughter. She's kidnapped. Dad jumps into the frey, saves his daughter. End of story! Lots of entertaining sleuthing, lots of kicking ass, occasional serious breaches of believability: Dad tells daughter "don't go to Paris"...accused of paranoia...and, of course, the daughter is promptly kidnapped by Albania's only export to the West; politically-correct gangsters. Hero, faced with bursts of near-point-blank automatic gun fire, is not hit. He shoots a Paris police big-wig's wife in the arm, crashes many cars, kills many people; yet, when the action is finished, he hops on a plane with his daughter to fly back to the States.
Some great subtlety in handling and pacing, but occasional firehose action sequences (esp. toward the end, natch) where you feared you were watching "just another" action flick.
I really do appreciate acting professionalism; and Liam Neeson is an absolute wonder. Great actors can do *anything*, and that's why Liam gets the big bucks.
The main reason I watched this was because I saw Besson's name on it, and he gave us such great tours-de-force... I expected something like that, and instead I got a quite tolerable action flick treat.
No moral complexity; real white/black hat stuff.
Quite good for the genre. Even if action flicks aren't your bag, you might want to try this one out, to recalibrate your attitudes a little.