Surprisingly Smart Action Film

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2009)

Liam Neeson delivers an excellent performance in this movie, giving us a cold, calculating intelligence agent and loving father without resorting to any sort of hackneyed acting tricks. The script, likewise, avoids such obvious displays of his hard edge, like kicking a puppy or something like that.
The main story is taken straight from the headlines, and while it may or may not be accurate in its details, it does give us something to rally behind and so we don't mind that Neeson resorts to trickery and outright brutality in his quest to find his daughter. Some might call it pandering, but since scumbag slavers do exist in real life, I don't mind being pandered to here.
The action sequences, while a little too quick with the editing, show a lot of thought. Neeson uses whatever is at his disposal to end the fight quickly and there are no idiotic quips or comments. He's there to do a job and talking just gets in the way.
Top notch effort from all involved and certainly the best movie to come out of Luc Besson in a while.
This movie is well worth watching on the big screen.