Review of Taken (2004) by Stefan G — 14 May 2015

What baffles me about this film is that a lot of people actually see something in this film, enough that it had two more sequels. My big question is why? Taken has got to be one of the worst action films I have ever seen, mainly because it's a very mindless exercise that that's more unpleasant than watchable.

The story is very vapid and insipient in dangerous doses, and it also suffers from very bad pacing for a film that runs for 90 minutes. It opens by introducing us to shallow lives that I don't think you can get attached to, which is a very big problem if the writers expect you to feel sympathy for the film's victim or its main character.

Speaking of which, the characters are not only sloppily written, but badly acted. I'm already very sure that I can't get attached to them, but many of the characters are simply unbearable, and even Liam Neeson's character sounds generally unpleasant.

A big problem is that, after 20 minutes, the film spends pretty much all of its runtime being negative, and this affects the way it presents itself. It all looks unbearably gritty and lifeless, and that gave off a dull atmosphere that made the film boring to watch.

Insipient, mindless, boring and unpleasant, this is a highly overrated film that doesn't deserve the success it got, and it fails as entertainment in every possible way.