Wow - Hold on to your seat!

Rating: 8/10 (9 April 2014)

I like films involving Luc Besson as writer or director - think "Leon" or "5th Element." Besson's a love-or-hate kind of guy. This one, I fell in love with.
In the 90 minutes that should be reserved for this sort of action drama, as opposed to the now-common 2+ hours, Neeson, Besson et al. serve up a taut film about a father who rescues his estranged daughter from sex kidnappers who grabbed her on a Paris vacation.
The first part of the movie does a very good job in 20 minutes of drawing the characters, albeit stock: the estranged husband and father, the step-father who seems to do everything better than dad, the daughter-father bond that nonetheless persists strongly. Then we jump right in!
One of the best aspects of this film is that it takes you through the whole chain of command of sex-trafficking operations: first the 'contact,' a young guy who finds out where the girls live and that they are alone; then the low-level kidnappers; then higher bosses who run the pre- selection and drug up the girls to get them subdued; then higher-level traders who take the best merchandise to satisfy rich men with a lust for virgins; and finally the ultra-rich sheik on a yacht, who represents the top-level predator in this disgusting food chain.
Liam Neeson disposes of all of them swiftly and painfully as the movie proceeds towards the final rescue of his daughter. Some girls don't make it, others are lucky and Neeson needs them for information. This is true for a former French sécurité honcho whose wife, a personal friend, Neeson shoots in the leg to get the truth out of him. Both live when Neeson gets what he wants.
The aggregate is as implausible as all such action flicks, but until the last 15 minutes, Besson et al. keep it fairly realistic. Unfortunately, it finally descends into heroes surviving against machine gun spray fire, implausible jumps from bridges, heroes that should be in police custody at the end but mysteriously end up home without a scratch, and such accoutrements of the action film. These were not actually necessary for the plot, so they are forgivable and I give it 8/10. A fun and fast evening!