Clichés and lack of character development aside,it's easy to be taken with Taken

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2009)

Quiet divorce Bryan Mills(Liam Neeson,someone I figured was overdue for doing a movie like this and he doesn't disappoint!)lives a solitary life,pining only to stay close to his now near-adult daughter's life. His attractive ex(Famke Janssen,not minding to sacrifice her sexiness for grit)has re-married to a super rich guy,and he can give said daughter(Maggie Grace)anything she wants. Fortunately for our hero,she still wants--at least when she's not momentarily blinded by all the cool things she can get and do--her daddy's love and approval.
A long-coveted trip to France(that is semi-supervised,of course)is what Kim,the daughter,gets from her folks,despite her dad's misgivings. Sure enough,her and her friend's bags have settled on the Rue-de-Place hotel floors more than an hour when some brutish,swarthy thugs violently overtake both girls and leave only vague,residual clues to what they're gonna do with them.
Of course,said thugs didn't count on Kim's dad being an excellent spy,a "fixer" who has plenty of contacts and a wealth of skills in tracking and neutralizing hostile foes.
Director Luc Beeson(who,I'll be honest,I was not fully aware of helming this picture when I decided upon seeing it)may be stooping a bit by helming this pretty straight-forward action genre flick--the guy helm-ed the trippy,near-definition busting SciFi offering The Fifth Element for crying out loud!!--but he has a more than competent feel for the frenetic,fast-paced activity and story here. I cannot give this TOO high of marks simply because the whole run of this story has a few too many clichés and many,if not most viewers,will recognize the standard chain of events right away. Not to mention the near lack of character development(heck,even Neeson's character only gets a broad outline when you really think about it),this movie would seem to be shallow entertainment. Still,it's hugely satisfying and,at a blistering 93 minutes,it doesn't leave the viewer enough time to dwell on the show's deficiencies. Perhaps it's playing dirty pool with audiences,but this movie works on a very basic and involving level. At the risk of using the oh-so-ready word play supplied by the movie's title,I think Taken is an appropriate title for this punchy,effective ride of a film.