Don't pick apart this film and you should have a good time

Rating: 7/10 (13 March 2011)

How far would you go to save someone you loved? Would you fly to another country? Would you risk starting international warfare in order to get answers? Would you search whorehouse after whorehouse? Would you single handedly take down at least eight armed men with no weapon of your own? If you answered no to any of these questions, then you are obviously not Liam Neeson. But that's OK because in Taken, Liam Neeson borders on absolute sociopath. He plays Bryan Mills, an ex-spy and divorcée with a seventeen year old daughter named Kim. When Kim travels to France with a friend, Bryan takes every precaution to make sure her trip is safe. But it isn't good enough because Kim and her friend are kidnapped upon their arrival and subsequently sold to slavery in prostitution. This sets off a chain of events fueled by Bryan's rage and his frightening bloodlust for revenge. He utilizes all of his skills from his past profession to track down his daughter's kidnappers and enact his violent revenge on all of them before he gets his daughter back.
The highlight of this film is undoubtedly Liam Neeson. He plays his role to perfection, or at least as perfect as this character can get. Don't get me wrong, he's a very fun character but not as human as you would think. He's fueled by revenge and incessant determination to get his daughter back, but he does it all with a cold and robotic tone. I would much rather see this personality than one where he breaks down and cries every ten minutes though. And it really is fun to watch him go through all the brutal steps to track down his daughter. The man never misses a beat while on the hunt or in the heat of battle. The action of the film is executed very well and it is downright awesome and Neeson delivers all of his dialouge with a brilliant stone cold sincerity.
I say that the action is awesome, and it is, but it is pretty damn silly at times. This is sort of what I expected from this film, being that it is your typical fast paced action thriller to some extent. But I will say that no matter how ridiculous the action gets it is all shot very well. I always say that there is a lot to be said for a film with action sequences where you can tell what is going on. Taken is thankfully one of those films. It is intense and in your face, but not obnoxiously shaky. That's not something that can be said about many films these days.
The storyline in Taken doesn't have much to offer but you sort of have to let that go. Let's face it, Taken isn't trying to be a movie with a deep and intricate political noir thriller plot line. It is the story of a man searching for his daughter doing whatever he has to do and going wherever he has to go to get the job done. Taken does just about as much as it can do with this simple storyline and the most I can really say is at least it never gets boring. Nothing about this movie ever gets boring. In fact I have to commend it for being so consistently fun and action packed. Granted it's only and hour and a half and had it been any longer I probably would have gotten tired of it, and this review would have ended up being much more negative.
Taken is definitely a cool film. There's not a whole lot to it, but it is a really exciting film. Its got plenty of issues but you kind of just have to put all that behind yourself and take this simple, brutal, and intense action film for what it is. This is a great film for an hour and a half of escapist entertainment, plain and simple.