Liam Neeson as an Action Hero

Rating: 7/10 (10 September 2009)

Taken is one of the most fast-paced action thrillers I've seen in a long time. It's 93 minutes of non-stop action, suspense and thrills as an ex-secret agent rages through Paris looking after his daughter, kidnapped to be sold in the sex industry.
Liam Neeson shows that, at the age of 57, he can surpass such characters as James Bond and Jason Bourne as the best, coolest, deadliest action hero of modern cinema.
Artistically speaking, Taken is not a great movie: the camera work and dialogue is unimpressive and the characters are as developed as they need to be to make the movie move on (Neeson's characters has a wide range of skills that pass off as characterisation). Movement is the major force behind this movie, its frantic pace never letting the viewer stop to think for a moment. But whereas I would despise that in a movie like Transformers, some quality in Taken makes me love it.
It's undoubtedly the story that makes the difference. Whereas most summer action movies are huge stories about nothing, Taken is a smaller, simpler, even heartwarming story about a father's love for his daughter. We sympathise with his loss and rage and rejoice in the pain and destruction he inflicts upon the villains.
This is escapist cinema at its best; I haven't been this thrilled and haven't cheered so much for a hero in such a long time, I felt I'd never again experience the joy of watching a good guy triumph in a movie. Fortunately movies like Taken keep getting made.