Review of Taken (2004) by Jonathan B — 04 Aug 2014

I just can't believe in Liam Neeson as the all action hero in this uninspiring thriller. The premise is utterly preposterous and the execution lacks fun or humour that may have just pulled it off. There's no thought to characterisation of the baddies other than they are bad and foreign.

This is a movie whose plot relies on it being peppered with varying degrees of xenophobia. Every character is a mere cipher that exists only to be punched, stabbed, tortured or shot by Neeson as he combs Paris in order to find his spoiled, brattish daughter who has been kidnapped and sold into prostitution while en-route to a U2 concert.

Yep, because every rebellious teenage girl really wants to travel to Europe to see Bono... The lack of substance to the plot is a major shortcoming in this movie as once you grasp the rather basic idea, all there is is a series of second rate punch-ups and nothing approaching tension.

Neeson's talents are wasted on this rubbish as were the 90 minutes I spent watching it.