Sure to be any father's required film viewing for their daughters!

Rating: 8/10 (1 February 2009)

Sure to be any father's required film viewing for their daughters! I thought of mine the whole time I was watching this flick and I begrudgingly became extra aware of parents' POV when they have to let go of their kids. It really can be a bad, crazy world out there, and after watching Taken, you'd want to have a dad like Liam Neeson's character, Bryan Mills.
Bryan retired from the CIA to get closer to his beloved daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), who has just turned 17. Kim lives with Bryan's ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen), and asks permission from him to go to Paris with a friend. He reluctantly allows her, and his worst fears come to life when she is kidnapped by an Armenian white slavery ring. Bryan is forced to use his special set of skills to get his daughter back, armed with only very few clues, in only a few hours he has before she disappears forever.
Written by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Transporter series), Taken is the impressive Hollywood directorial debut of cinematographer Pierre Morel. He has loads of help from Neeson, though, who is super believable transitioning from ultra-doting dad to unstoppable force to reckon with. If you're ever in trouble, you'd want to have him on your side. When he says he's coming to get you, you know he will, especially when he quickly and efficiently handles anyone who gets in his way. I would definitely like to see him taking on more roles like this one. It was just as startling to see the beautiful Janssen in a subdued mother role, having been used to seeing her as the femme fatale or the superhero for the better part of her career. While definitely pretty, Grace was miscast as Kim. Not only is she a decade older than the character, she's already famous as whiny Shannon in Lost. While still whiny, her acting was too affected, perhaps trying to compensate for playing someone much younger. She ran like a retard and her misplaced mannerisms distracted from the movie.
Still, I found Taken to be v. entertaining; needless to say, don't take it so seriously! It delivers on being violent, ridiculous, unbelievable fun so enjoy it!