Upper Echelon Action/Thriller

Rating: 9/10 (7 May 2009)

"Taken" is a masterfully directed, superbly acted action/thriller which features an aged Liam Neeson as retired 'handler' Bryan Mills and Maggie Grace as his daughter in distress. The cast is rounded out well, featuring a particularly strong supporting turn by Famke Janssen.
Originally posing as an almost-innocent family drama, "Taken" quickly takes a turn for the nightmarish when Kim (the daughter) is ripped from her idyllic Paris vacation and smuggled into its seedy criminal underbelly.
What follows is a magnificently filmed romp through Paris and parts unknown as Neeson's character returns from his retirement in a decisively violent way, upholding his pledge that he will find those who have his daughter, and he will kill them.
The writing is fast-paced, the dialogue crisp and believable; the music is perfect in setting the atmosphere of any given moment; the cinematography is fresh and exciting. In essence, it is a cinematic slam dunk which should be used as a benchmark from which to judge others of its genre.