A gripping action thriller surprisingly heavy on the violence

Rating: 9/10 (11 April 2009)

Taken is a taut action thriller starring the somewhat improbable Liam Neeson as the avenging hero.
Neeson is somewhat of an everyman actor, very believable in everyday hero roles that Tom Cruise and the like could never do. It is this versatility that is his great strength as an actor – see his roles as Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars and the legendary Irish hero Michael Collins in the film of the same name for further evidence of this. But as Brian Mills, the loving father and retired CIA operative, he brings a new intensity to the fore, and the film is all the more satisfying for it. Brian has seen how the world works and wants to protect his daughter from it. But after his daughter is kidnapped on a trip to Paris, Brian must dust off his skills that have lain dormant in order to rescue his daughter and punish those responsible.
After taking a little too much time to set events in motion (considering it is only a 90 minute film) the pace and power accelerates rapidly, and you find yourself slowly gripped by the single-minded intensity of ex-spy Ben. While you remain sure that the outcome is inevitable, the method and projected body count remain in question, and it is this that makes the film such an enthralling tale. Some good, if not particularly spectacular, set-pieces, keep the pace moving quickly, while the vast range of 'special skills' Ben displays throughout the film ensure we never lose sight of who it is we're dealing with. The film wears its emotions on its sleeve, giving the film a raw feel, which all adds to the gut-wrenching intensity. As the plot thickens and more layers become apparent – including corruption within the gendarmes – you are left asking yourself 'how far would you go to rescue someone you love? What lengths would you go to?' Ben's methods become morally ambiguous at best, if not outright questionable, but as we see more of the seedy underbelly of Paris and how far it extends, the slightly sour taste that has been growing from the we discover the truth behind his daughter's abduction becomes quite uncomfortable. The rather surprisingly high level of violence adds to this level of discomfort, yet the violence never seems to feel gratuitous.
Neeson is a man who can deliver quiet intensity like few others can, but the fury he displays never seems to rise much above a whisper – no matter how much training a spy may get, surely nothing could prepare someone for the kidnap of their daughter? A slight increase in volume of emotions would have benefited somewhat. Meanwhile, Maggie Grace as Ben's daughter has little to do other than look severely distressed and frightened, while the villains are largely nameless and faceless. The lack of a single clearly identifiable villain, while ensuring the focus remains solely on Ben's search for his daughter, dilutes the fury and vengeance factor somewhat. However, Taken remains a riveting narrative, unfettered by the convoluted machinations that frequently litter CIA-based films. By taking the spy out of the CIA, the story is free to focus on the action-based thrills rather than the political ones, and is all the better for it. In fact, with a sub-90 minute runtime the audience is left feeling slightly short-changed on plot, and an additional twenty minutes to develop Neeson's character further, maybe even displaying some bursts of uncontrolled rage at some point, would not have harmed the movie in any way.
Be that as it may, with TV series like Alias having made the spy genre somewhat stale, Taken shows there is no substitute for seeing this kind of story as a full-blown action thriller on the big screen. Genuinely gripping.