Taken

Plot synopsis:
Bryan (Liam Neeson) is a retired Government Agent. He is at an electronics store and is carefully choosing a karaoke device for his beloved 17-year-old daughter Kim's (Maggie Grace) birthday. As Bryan arrives at a luxury mansion, Kim's mother Lenore (Famke Janssen) is very cold toward him, criticizing his choice of a gift and that he has even showed in the first place. The daughter is extremely pleased with her gift; however, she is soon distracted by her wealthy stepfather Stuart's (Xander Berkeley) gift of a large horse. Later, Bryan is alone in his small modest apartment. Three friends, all also retired agents, drop by for poker, steaks and beer. One of them, Sam (Leland Orser) invites Bryan to make some quick cash working security with them by escorting a female pop star to her nearby concert. After her vocal warm-up Bryan asks the pop star, Sheerah (Holly Valance) for advice to give his daughter who also wishes to be a singer. Sheerah answers, "Tell her to pick another career." Bryan gets a phone call from Kim inviting him to lunch. At the concert, things get anxious for a moment when security is distracted by a mob of fans breaking through. Bryan escorts Sheerah away from the crowd, but is confronted with a knife-wielding assailant that Bryan quickly takes down. As a "Thank You," Sheerah offers to help Bryan's daughter with a vocal coach and a manager if she has any natural talent.Bryan is very excited and plans to let Kim know about Sheerah's offer; however, Lenore comes to the lunch also and it becomes clear he was invited only to sign the parental-consent form Kim needs to take a vacation to Paris with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy). Bryan is reluctant to agree, knowing the dangers of the wrong parts of Paris and feeling Kim is too young, but Kim explains she'll be staying with Amanda's cousin's and spend most of her time in museums. Bryan says he will consider the matter, but Kim takes it as a "no" and becomes very upset. Lenore tears into Bryan for being such an asshole and for being too cautious. She wants their daughter to experience life. The next day, Bryan shows up at Stuart's mansion with the signed consent, a pre-paid international cell phone, and some conditions: 1) Bryan must take Kim to the airport; 2) Kim must call Bryan when she lands in Paris; and 3) Kim must call Bryan every night to tell him the address and phone number of any new place at which she will be sleeping. At the airport, as Bryan is retrieving Kim's luggage from the car, he sees a map of Europe with several cities circled in a pocket of Kim's luggage. He confronts Lenore who admits that the girls are actually going to follow the rock band U2 on their European tour, not just stay in Paris. Bryan is angry, but it is too late to do anything about it.In Paris, while standing in the line for a taxi at the airport, the two girls meet a friendly, handsome young Parisian named Peter (Nicolas Giraud). He suggests they all share a taxi for the expensive ride downtown. Amanda immediately accepts and Kim reluctantly agrees. While they wait, they have Peter take their picture with Kim's phone. Chivalrous Peter has the taxi drop the girls off first. He invites them to a party that very night and Amanda eagerly accepts. As the taxi pulls away, Peter makes a quick phone call--he simply says "Two girls, about 18" and the address of the apartment. Upstairs, Kim inquires where the cousins are at. Amanda breezily announces the cousins are on vacation in Spain and giggly announces as she jumps on the couch that she plans to have sex with Peter later on.Back in the US, a concerned Bryan checks the arrival information and learns that Kim's plane has landed. Bryan attempts to call Kim's phone; however, Amanda has cranked the music in the apartment to such a volume that neither girl hears Kim's phone ring. Finally, Bryan gets hold of Kim. Kim walks around to the other side of the loft (shaped like a square with a courtyard in between) to get away from the loud music. While they talk, Kim can see Amanda through the windows across the courtyard. As she talks to her dad, she sees two men grab Amanda and carry her away from view while Amanda kicks and fights. Panicked, Kim tells Bryan what she just saw. Bryan immediately takes control and orders her to go into the nearest bedroom and hide under the bed. Guiding her with a careful series of questions, he learns that Kim and Amanda shared a cab with a man named Peter. Kim thinks she saw three or four man take Amanda. "Now," he tells her, "the next part is very important ... they are going to take you." Bryan tells her that she must leave her phone on, and she will have five to ten seconds to scream out any description of them she can. Bryan hooks up a tape recorder to his phone. Two men enter the bedroom and are puzzled they haven't found the second girl. They converse in a strange foreign language. Bryan tells Kim to hold the phone towards the men so he can hear their conversation. The two men appear to have left the room and Kim is relieved and tells her dad they left, when suddenly Kim is snatched from under the bed. Following Bryan's instructions, she screams out, "Beard! Six Feet! Tattoo, right hand, moon and star!" Bryan hears her scream for a few more seconds, then, after a moment of quiet, Bryan hears heavy breathing. Bryan tells the kidnapper, "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.". . . the kidnapper responds with a thick accent, "Good luck,".Bryan sends the taped conversation to Sam, his ex-agency friend from the concert. Bryan then storms over to Stuart's, his wife's second husband, and confronts him about possible business enemies of Stuart arranging Kim's kidnapping. Stuart and Lenore are surprised about how much of Stuart's business Bryan knows. Bryan is satisfied that Stuart's business affairs are not the source of the problem, and he tells Stuart he needs a private jet to Paris "an hour ago." Bryan searches Kim's room and all her personal possessions for possible clues. Meanwhile, he is on speaker phone with Sam so Lenore can hear. Sam provides a detailed report that identifies the language as Albanian and he even narrows the accent down to a specific town in Albania. Their leader's name is Marko and he is a very powerful figure. Sam tells him that the Albanians kidnap girls for prostitution and Bryan has, at most, 96 hours (four days) before Kim will disappear forever.On the private jet, Bryan plays the recording of Kim's abduction over and over again, committing every sound to memory. In Paris, Bryan first gains access to the girl's apartment. He visualizes the abduction from the clues left behind at the scene and finds and recovers the memory card from Kim's smashed cellphone which is adjacent to the bed under which Kim tried to hide. At a do-it-yourself photo kiosk, Bryan finds the picture Peter took at the airport and zooms in on a reflection of Peter in the photo. At the airport, Peter is using the same "share a taxi" line with a Swedish blonde. Bryan assaults Peter to find out about the girls from yesterday; however a large man, Peter's accomplice, tries to stop Bryan. As Bryan fights off the large man, Peter runs away. Bryan disposes of Peter's accomplice and gives chase stealing the taxi cab. Peter runs into traffic and Bryan jumps out of the taxi and chases Peter on foot. Peter then jumps over the overpass and seemingly lands safely when a truck hits and kills him.Bryan then meets with an old acquaintance named Jean-Claude, who is with French Intelligence, to ask for help. The Frenchman tells Bryan where the Albanian-pimped hookers are located, but warns Bryan to stay out of it and to not cause any problems. As Bryan leaves, Jean-Claude sets up a tail to follow him. After getting a rental car, Bryan meets with an Albanian interpreter whom he's hired at the hooker area, first telling him to wait in the car. Bryan then deliberately wastes a prostitute's time so her pimp will come over to rough up the mild-mannered Bryan and demand some money. Bryan then slyly plants a listening device on the pimp. Back in the car, Bryan has the interpreter listen to the audio feed from the bug and translate the Albanian conversation. They talk about having trouble with some new merchandise at a nearby construction site. Bryan excuses the interpreter, but not before getting the Albanian-English dictionary he had asked him to bring.At the construction site, there is a long line of men waiting to get into a trailer. Bryan acts like a customer and joins the line. When Bryan reaches the head of the line, he hands the "doorman" his money and receives a scrap of paper with a single digit on it. Inside the trailer ropes have been strung with blankets draped over them to form 'rooms' on either side of a center aisle. As Bryan walks down the aisle, he looks into each 'room.' Bryan enters one 'room' and finds a cot with a drugged woman lying on it. She isn't Kim. She beckons him to come to her, but, instead, he starts pulling more blankets aside to check the other 'rooms.' Since each room has a customer, this invasion of privacy starts a ruckus. Bryan has to deal with a few bouncers as he makes his way along the length of the trailer. In the last room, Bryan sees his daughter's jacket and a drugged woman with hair like Kim's. Rushing in, he finds it isn't Kim. Bryan tries to question this woman, but she is so drugged she can't talk. So Bryan carries her to a nearby Jeep, hot-wires the ignition, and, after a wild chase, makes his escape from a swarm of angry Albanians. He drives to a quiet out-of-the-way hotel and rents two rooms from the owner (another old acquaintance). In one of the rooms, Bryan rigs up an IV drip and injects the girl with a solution, beginning an ultra-rapid detox of her system.Later, Jean-Claude demands a meeting with Bryan out in the open by the river. When Jean-Claude arrives, his cell phone rings. It is Bryan saying he doesn't trust meeting Jean-Claude (until he gets Kim back). Jean-Claude says his boss hit the roof over the construction site violence. While the boss wanted Bryan arrested, Jean-Claude has convinced him to authorize instead a ticket to send Bryan back to America, "for previous services." Bryan refuses. Meanwhile, Jean-Claude's men have been triangulating the source of Bryan's phone call and a squad of men burst onto a nearby rooftop. There they find a cell phone rigged with a walkie-talkie. Bryan is actually on another roof nearby. Bryan walks away easily.The girl comes back to consciousness and tells Bryan she got the jacket from another girl. All she can remember is it was at a house with red doors on the rue Paradis. Bryan finds the house with the red doors, walks in bold and confident, and presents Jean-Claude's business card as his own. Bryan is led past several thugs to a dirty kitchen. Four Albanians are seated around a table. Bryan tries to ascertain who is the leader, but they all claim to be Marko and all from the town that Bryan's language expert had identified. Bryan tells them that their former police contact, Mr. Macon, had been transferred and now he (Bryan as Jean-Claude) will be collecting the bribes, the rate for which has just gone up. After some hard bargaining, a deal is struck and Bryan thinks he has identified the figure from Kim's phone. But, before he leaves, Bryan stops and says a friend gave him a note in Albanian. He hands it to the apparent leader and asks him to translate it. The leader (the real Marko) responds "Good Luck." Bryan recognizes Marko's voice immediately and says to him, "You don't remember me do you? ... I told you I was going to find you," and, suddenly Bryan is shooting and fighting the house full of armed men. When the smoke clears, Bryan has killed all of them but Marko. Bryan searches for Kim in all the upper bedrooms of the building. He finds several women handcuffed to beds and Amanda's dead body (apparently dead due to a drug overdose). Bryan tortures Marko with electricity. After trying to tough it out, Marko tells Bryan Kim was sold to a man named Saint Clair. Bryan then turns the power back on and leaves Marko screaming in agony.Jean-Claude comes home for supper to discover Bryan is visiting like an old friend. Jean-Claude's wife, Isabelle, tells Jean-Claude to put the two kids to bed. As he does, he recovers a pistol from the lavatory and tucks it into the back of his waistband. At the dining room table, Bryan casually speaks about moving to Paris and drops the address of the Albanian pimp-house and Macon's name. Isabelle naively says that she herself knows Macon. Bryan then confronts Jean-Claude on selling protection and anonymity to the Albanians and demands to know who Saint Clair is. Jean-Claude pulls out his pistol and aims it at Bryan, angrily detailing the gap between his pay and his expenses. Bryan then tosses a handful of bullets onto the dining room table and tells Jean-Claude that he has been behind a desk too long if he can't tell the difference in weight between a loaded gun and an unloaded one. Bryan pulls his own pistol and shoots Isabelle in the arm, saying, it's a flesh wound but that his next shot will kill her unless Jean-Claude provides him with information on Saint Clair. Jean-Claude then goes into his office and uses his computer to access police files that identify and locate Saint Clair. Bryan then tells Jean-Claude to tell his wife he is sorry for shooting her and he then pistol whips the Frenchman to the floor.Again posing as Jean-Claude, Bryan gains access to a party Saint Clair is hosting. Bryan discovers Saint Clair is hosting a much darker "party" on a lower level. Bryan assumes the guise of a waiter and gains access to a darkened room facing a wall of glass, one of a series of the same types of rooms that encircle an open stage. On the stage are a young, drugged, scantily clad young woman and a handler. In each darkened cubicle, a bidder presses a red button when they wish to bid. The auction ends and the girl is led away. The auctioneer announces the last and best woman of the evening's auction. An American, pure virgin; the girl is Kim. Bryan pulls a gun on the buyer in this darkened room and forces him to outbid the others to purchase her. The bidding goes to 500,000, but, upon leaving the room with the buyer still at gunpoint, Bryan is knocked unconscious from behind. He awakens suspended from a pipe just below the ceiling. He admits to the Englishman, Saint Clair, that he is the last girl's father. Saint Clair says, "too bad. It's business and she is sold already." He then orders his henchmen to execute Bryan quietly and leaves the room. Despite being shackled to the overhead pipe, Bryan manages to break the pipe loose and escape while killing the guards. Bryan meets the surprised Saint Clair standing at the elevator. Saint Clair pleads unsuccessfully for his life by saying "it was just business" and telling him that Kim will be at a pier. Bryan shoots him dead and sends the elevator up to the party. Bryan races to the the river, but misses the large yacht onto which Kim and other veiled women have been hustled as it cruises down the river. Bryan drives a stolen car against one-way traffic to gain position on a bridge, then jumps onto the ship as it passes underneath. On board, an Arab sheikh lies on a bed in a robe as a group of women in veils are led in. Bryan fights his way through the sheikh's guards and enters the bedroom, the sheikh has a curved knife held to Kim's throat. Bryan takes aim and shoots the man in the head.Back in the US, Kim is reunited with her mother. Lenore even hugs Bryan in thanks. Later, Bryan mysteriously collects Kim and takes her to a very nice home. After he knocks, he takes a step back. Pop star Sheerah opens the door and, over her shoulder, someone sits at a piano. Sheerah takes Kim by the arm while saying she had heard Kim wants to be a singer, and tells her, "let's see what you've got."

Tags: boring, neo noir, murder, realism, mystery, cult, violence, flashback, psychedelic, action, revenge, home movie

Review:
I'm not sure if this was intentional but there were no trailers before the movie, so being thrown strait into the film unexpectedly with people whispering "is this it then ?" only helping build up some initial tension and excitement.The film starts nicely, but with overtones of spy thrillers like "Day of the Jackal" coming to mind.
In a three way spy battle, I would put Neeson edging out Bourne, who would be a step ahead of Bond.Between the jaw-dropping action sequences was the subject matter of international trafficking, which was pretty miserable to watch.
The fighting style and the way things get done is similar to Matt Damon's character and it doesn't get old and is interesting and great to watch throughout the whole film.The movie has a similar plot to other action thrillers, but even though you may know the outcome, it is the journey that counts in this movie.
But the level of realism, the motivation of the character, the cold blood which moves him on makes this flick a good option to choose when selecting a movie.Liam Neeson does a great performance, perfectly interpreting his role of a former spy.
Taken may be a simple film, but it's not simplistic, and even though the first third of it is spent recapping what we knew going in, the second and third acts here deliver enough thrills and action to make this film riveting, even if we know exactly where it's going.By setting the chase within the ultra-sleazy world of human trafficking, which we secretly hope is just a media creation, but know deep inside that this reprehensible and inhumane phenomenon is a reality, the film is propelled by a sense of urgency that isn't present in most revenge films.
Neeson is untested as an action star, but watching him maneuver his way through the sea of detritus here, we're left hoping that he's got a franchise in him.The film may not have the intricacies of the expertly crafted Bourne films (although, like every action film made since Bourne appeared on the screen, the fight scenes here owe an obviously rich debt to Matt Damon's antics), but the gritty and realistic path Neeson carves to get to his stolen daughter is sufficient to deliver the promise implied by the fantastic trailer.You don't have to be a parent to understand and sympathize with Liam's plight here, and there is a morbid but exhilarating sense of release in seeing the evil empire pay for its transgressions.
Taken doesn't really care if you like Liam Neeson or wonder if he's doing the right thing by flagrantly taking the law into his own hands; the film just wants you to strap yourself in and enjoy the tidings as he hands out beat-downs all over Paris.This film doesn't want you to think.
Action is what counts, and for those who miss the era of the lean, mean 85-minute skull-crack fest, Taken will re-conjure the giddy thrills of watching Dudikoff, Seagal, and Van-Damme chomp through a slew of B-Movie terrorists.
This is a fast paced thriller that had me gripped till the end, with great elements of action, a bit of gore, a lot of suspense, and all in all a fun movie that was completely worth the 90 minutes.Liam Neeson once again proves himself to be up there among the best with another brilliant performance and this one has really made me a big fan of his work, especially after great performances recently in Batman Begins, and voice roles in Narnia and Fallout 3.
Although a bit old, he would fit into the role brilliantly seeing as how easily he carried it through in Taken.All in all, a great movie, and one I'd recommend to anyone who loves a good action thriller...
By the time the movie finished I wanted more and thankfully we now have Taken 2 coming, just hoping its as good as the original one.It appears that story has been written keeping Neeson in mind because he fits the role in a very natural way.
What more could you want?A definite must see, again should be up with the best of them this year such as dark knight etc.Liam Neeson did superbly in his role as an ex spy who is professionally trained to kill, to go save his daughter KIM (Maggie Grace) the length of the movie could be longer but it's still a decent amount of time as the action never stops.
He has to rely on his skills and wit to rescue his daughter from the kidnappers, who are trafficking young girls for prostitution.This film gives the notion as to what highs and lows a father would go through in order to save the ones he love and it is intriguing to see all his methods and skills of survival he utilizes on his mission.Trying to find somebody in a foreign city of millions makes you feel the suspense and eerie of being in a foreign country, where you know almost no one and where you do not know your surroundings - everybody and everything is a stranger to you.
Liam Neeson as "Bryan Mills," reminded me of Denzel Washington's role in "Man On Fire." In that film, Washington played a relentless-and-brutal bodyguard who did what he had to do to get kidnapped Dakota Fanning back to her parents.Here, Neeson does the same to get his daughter "Kim" back from kidnappers/sex trade slime-balls.
Pierre Morel directs this movie well, by keeping the action within a decent view, maintaining good pacing, and also allowing for the actors to breathe out a scene when more emotion is involved.
This should have been a great action film, with gadgets and planning, with a team working together to not only get back Liam's daughter, but bring down the entire kidnapping/slave trade organization.
". It's been a long time since I watched an action movie and was so involved, riveted to the screen, and rooted so much for the main character as when I saw last weekend the thriller Taken (2008) written by Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel.
I don't understand why because as the action movies go, this is very entertaining and dynamic picture.The plot involves the kidnapping of an American girl (Maggie Grace) vacationing with a friend in Paris, by the gang of Albanian human traffickers specializing in selling young women into forced prostitution.
As much fun as it is to watch Liam Neeson outrun a speeding car or electrocute some guy or kill a dude with a broken bottle, Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" was a far better and more refined example of grizzled old guy "badassery", and it was a hell of a lot funnier, and fancy that, had a moral.What we have here in "Taken" is tone deaf French filmmakers sticking their nose up at Americans and spreading xenophobia abroad.
He wrote Fifth Element with Bruce Willis set in the far future and then he also did The Messenger with Mila Jovovich set in the past looking at Joan Of Arc; this time Luc handles Human Trafficking and removing certain stereotypes some may have of Liam Neeson, of "Love Actually" and the first "Darkman" film.Neeson is Bryan, a former CIA operative who so loved his daughter he went AWOL for her b'day showed his devotion to her despite being punished with an Antarctic assignment.He chooses retirement in order to be near Kim, his daughter for her b'day despite her Mother resisting Bryan's attention.
If they had put better screen writers this could have been a very crude, strong and believable film - instead, they want us to believe that: 1) Neeson is sort of a Rambo-Terminator, completely indestructible; 2) the baddies are the worst shots ever seen in movie history - they miss even at point blank range; 3) there are no police or law enforcer of any kind in Paris, since no one eve stops Neeson of killing literally everyone that is in his path.
Taken (2008)Once the real plot kicks in and Liam Neeson goes ballistic (in his very icy, obsessed way), the movie takes off, too.
Like I stated in the opening of this review, the killings are the means to an end, and because of that it is far easier to enjoy.I have no hesitation in calling Taken the best action movie of the year and it is certainly a joy to see Neeson back on screen and doing something different and entertaining.
It just lends to the long running trend that acting is usually the last thing to go wrong with a film, and with somebody like Neeson at the helm, Taken achieves a whole new level credibility and could mark the beginning of a new face in the world of action.Read all my reviews at: http://www.simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com.
The movie's plot elements are awfully tired as they've been overused to agonizing redundancy in countless films, but hey okay, it's supposed to be really good, has Liam Neeson in it, and after all, it's a spy-thriller, right?
Taken was the movie that helped me discover that Liam Neeson is one of my all time favourite actors.
Taken is an action movie full of suspense and starring Liam Neeson,who plays a retired CIA agent.Liam Neeson who has impressive skills, and tries to save his kidnapped daughter from Albanian web of prostitution and drugs,his adventure starts in Paris;he has a few clues but a prodigious memory, and with help of his CIA partners and after a lot of events an troubles,he finally found and save his daughter.the Movie doesn't have a lot of special effects but the plot was very very exciting and addictive,have a good music and the locations are wonderful,amazing and fantastic.
Nothing seems plausible or realistic, hence Comic-Book Category, but it is so much fun watching the really Bad Guys get a really good comeuppance.There is some very mediocre Acting (just about everyone except Liam) and the Movie never lets up enough to make anyone think about what is happening, and it shouldn't.
It's short, fast and definitely exciting.A realistic knuckle-bound, no-holds-barred thriller, Taken has the ingredients that make a great action movie, added with some "zing" to make it better.
All I can say is the simple "child-gets-kidnapped" plot device is slightly reinvented and done with justice here, ala the "out-for-revenge" plot device used in "Man on Fire", another excellent action movie.It's clear that almost everyone involved in the technical aspects of the film is French, and seeing that the film is mostly set in Paris, comes to no surprise.
I watch it 3 times in the past few years, and still enjoy it.Don't want to spoil anything so I will keep this simple.I can't complaint on anything, and that is something very good to say about a movie.The story is very original.
We had no romantic interconnections, no boring humdrum or anything to loosen our grips on the tight narrative.Even then, this ain't your usual Statham action film, Neeson is a great actor, just check out the scene when he hears his daughter screaming while being kidnapped , and his lines after that, just before the "Good Luck", i knew this film was gonna be kick-ass at that moment, but i never expected so much.
Liam Neeson is not your average action hero but he does a great job being one.Story in short; A girl goes to France and get's "taken" from her apartment while making a call with her dad who used to be a retired secret agent.
One he thought was going to go straight to DVD.Plot In A Paragraph: Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) a retired CIA agent, goes on a rampage across Europe, and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter Kate (Maggie Grace) who has been kidnapped while on a trip to Paris.
I had been meaning to watch this movie for a while now, so I was quite excited when I finally got to see it.The action in this film is excellent; very fast-paced, thrilling and frantic.
Taken is a 2008 action/crime drama directed by Pierre Morel that shows you exactly what happens to you when you kidnap Brian Mills' (read: Liam Neeson's) seventeen year-old daughter, played by Maggie Grace during her vacation abroad to Paris with her nineteen year-old friend Amanda, played by Katie Cassidy.
Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, "Taken" is an action-packed film that takes place in the U.S. The daughter of an Ex-CIA agent—portrayed by Liam Neeson—takes a trip to Paris with her friend Amanda.
A retired CIA agent travels across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who was kidnapped on a trip to Paris to be sold into prostitution."It's fun for about 15 minutes seeing Neeson do James Bond as Daddy Dangerous.
Much of what occurs in Liam Neeson thriller Taken is incredibly implausible, but with suspension of disbelief turned up to eleven, the film proves to be an extremely satisfying viewing experience—a brutal action flick that effectively exploits that most basic of human emotions: the desire to see the wicked punished.Neeson stars as ex-special forces operative Bryan Mills, who kicks seven shades of the proverbial out of the Albanian human traffickers who are stupid enough to kidnap his teenage daughter Kim (Maggie Grace).Although the film's star is well into his fifties, Neeson shows no sign of taking it easy in his old age, kicking, punching and blasting his way around Paris with the energy and power of man 20 years his junior.
Liam Neeson , I must say has done a real fine job.He has played the character with many shades in the most perfect manner which probably none of the the actors would fit into in such a sublime manner.He is a caring father,has been a good servant for his country,n is the Ex-CIA operative who is still pretty good at what he used to do.His composure to think with a clear head in even in darkest situations is what sets him apart n not to forget his superhuman effort in the process of freeing his daughter from the hands of a very highly connected human trafficking gang.The action sequences of the movie are pretty awesome n not over the top but believable to a greater extent.The city has been used as a good backdrop to the fast paced story.It is a very true to its genre of "action thriller" n will surely grant u what u want from a film of this genre.And to round it off i am sure the movie can boast of the famous line "LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU"..
I've seen a few films like this, but none of them compares to this in anyway, this is the best of it's kind.Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a retired Agent of the U.S Government, his daughter is kidnapped in France by smugglers, and now all he wants is to get her back...
First, kidnappers took Harrison Ford's wife in "Frantic"; now they took Liam Neeson's daughter and her friend in the action thriller film "Taken", where both girls will be sold as prostitutes by Albanians slave traders.
Among the favorable points of this film, besides a great performance by Neeson, is the way this father manages to save his daughter and the techniques he uses to track her last steps after being kidnapped.
It is comprehensible in the context used for this film, here's a desperate father trying to save his daughter in a short period of time, he did way worst to the guys who took her but for some reason this was too strange, and this woman wasn't even involved in the whole situation although her husband was.It might be an overdone and clichéd picture but it has a lot of good things to show, it's well made, well acted with a nice supporting cast with names like Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser, Jon Gries and Xander Berkeley, and the action is great.
Too bad most of the young ladies kidnapped for real in this world don't have a father like this guy.With each film he makes, Liam Neeson is becoming more and more likable.
Liam Neeson stars as retired CIA Agent Bryan Mills who might be the best of the action heroes to arrive in the cinematic millennium.
The camera angles, the choreography, and even the sound effects have a gritty, arresting quality to them (in a way that surpasses the Bourne movies), and much of the directing is something foreign to big screen action flicks.What Taken accomplishes is the best kind of cinematic experience, with refreshingly believable fight sequences, a clever and engaging plot, and some great acting from Liam Neeson.
OK so politically this is not the most pleasant pieces of work to be watching but, aside from the first twenty minutes of setup (some of which I could have done without) the plot doesn't really matter and it becomes a race against time thriller.This is where it does owe a great debt to Bourne because the filming style, the action, the urgency and the fighting style are all very similar to the formulae used to good effect in that trilogy.
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.
It makes for better action rather than the spy vs spy ways of Bourne, and Liam Neeson does a performance Bruce Willis' John McClane from the early Die Hard movies would be proud of.He is the been-there-seen-it-all former CIA-agent retired to spend more time close to his 17 year old daughter he's been seeing to little of because of his work.
The movie is always focused on the film's quick ambient and action, rejecting the few calm moments existing.Liam Neeson is THE man.
If you want to see Liam Neeson in a bad-ass character, then this is also a movie for you.'Taken' is one of the best action movies 2008 has to offer and probably one of the best of the genre in years.